Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the four brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $289.25.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total transaction of $429,419.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,946,172.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,645 shares of company stock worth $3,811,128 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in Acuity Brands by 85.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $271.89 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.85. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $149.30 and a 1-year high of $272.74. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $252.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $210.72.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 9th. The electronics maker reported $3.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $934.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $935.14 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.04 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 13.71 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

About Acuity Brands

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.