Short Interest in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Expands By 7.6%

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,830,000 shares, a growth of 7.6% from the July 31st total of 2,630,000 shares. Currently, 9.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 347,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.1 days.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $161.29 on Friday. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $149.30 and a twelve month high of $202.90. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $163.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.54.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 29th. The electronics maker reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.97% and a net margin of 9.34%. Sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 12.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 18th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 17th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,924 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth about $1,076,000. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,706,000. BOKF NA boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.3% in the second quarter. BOKF NA now owns 9,192 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 314.3% during the second quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 21,620 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,526,000 after buying an additional 16,402 shares in the last quarter. 95.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AYI. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, June 30th. SpectralCast reiterated a “reiterates” rating on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Acuity Brands in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.14.

About Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting and building management solutions in North America and internationally. The company operates through 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 Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Gotham, Mark Architectural Lighting, Winona Lighting, Juno, Indy, Aculux, Healthcare Lighting, Hydrel, American Electric Lighting, Sunoptics, eldoLED, nLight, Sensor Switch, IOTA, A-Light, Cyclone, Eureka, Lumniaire LED, Luminis, Dark to Light, RELOC Wiring Solutions, and OPTOTRONIC brands.