Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $395.1667.

AYI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Acuity from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 price target on Acuity in a research note on Friday, January 9th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Acuity in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,974 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.23, for a total transaction of $1,538,110.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,655,557.29. The trade was a 18.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Acuity in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new position in Acuity during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 1,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 96 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $315.01 on Friday. Acuity has a 12-month low of $216.81 and a 12-month high of $380.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $346.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.50.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $4.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.24. Acuity had a net margin of 9.04% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Acuity will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from Acuity’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 2nd. Acuity’s payout ratio is presently 6.15%.

About Acuity

Acuity Brands, Inc (NYSE: AYI) is a leading provider of lighting fixtures, controls and building management solutions designed for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential markets. The company’s core offerings include a broad range of LED luminaires, lighting controls, sensors and networked building systems that enhance energy efficiency, occupant comfort and operational productivity. Acuity Brands’ portfolio spans indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures, emergency lighting, task lighting and architectural products, as well as advanced controls such as daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and wireless sensor networks.

Beyond traditional lighting, Acuity Brands delivers integrated digital solutions through its Connected Building platform, which combines smart sensors, cloud-based analytics and mobile applications to enable real-time monitoring and remote management of lighting and environmental systems.