Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Price Target to $320.00

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) had its price objective lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $330.00 to $320.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the electronics maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AYI. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Monday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $328.20.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 3.0 %

AYI opened at $312.99 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $214.32 and a twelve month high of $337.99. The company has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of 23.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $315.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $280.14.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Private Client Services LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $1,377,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,495,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 49,449 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $14,602,000 after acquiring an additional 2,677 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 770 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

About Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch.