Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:AYI opened at $296.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $217.64 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $316.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $300.14.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Acuity Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.72 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AYI. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in Acuity Brands by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,498 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.