Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Hits New 52-Week High at $275.63

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $275.63 and last traded at $273.80, with a volume of 44734 shares. The stock had previously closed at $269.74.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $286.25.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $248.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $968.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 366.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $83,430,000 after acquiring an additional 271,485 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 187.8% in the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $79,755,000 after acquiring an additional 215,547 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 353.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $41,934,000 after acquiring an additional 135,350 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Acuity Brands by 35.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $98,306,000 after buying an additional 107,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vision One Management Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $21,901,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.