Wall Street Zen Downgrades Acuity (NYSE:AYI) to Buy

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Acuity from $312.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.17.

Acuity Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE AYI opened at $365.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $347.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $303.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.95. Acuity has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $375.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,489 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.11, for a total value of $1,638,978.79. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,211,106.16. This trade represents a 42.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 1,100.0% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 96 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 122.2% in the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 100 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 5,200.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 106 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity 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.