Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Oppenheimer Analyst Says

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Oppenheimer from $370.00 to $380.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the electronics maker’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective points to a potential upside of 24.51% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Acuity Brands in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $328.20.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.7 %

AYI stock opened at $305.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $9.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $337.99. The company’s 50 day moving average is $315.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.59.

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

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 187.8% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $79,755,000 after buying an additional 215,547 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Acuity Brands by 353.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $41,934,000 after acquiring an additional 135,350 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth $31,026,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $98,306,000 after purchasing an additional 107,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $106,201,000 after purchasing an additional 63,159 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Company Profile

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.