Wells Fargo & Company Downgrades Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) to Equal Weight

Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $260.00 price target on the electronics maker’s stock, down from their previous price target of $295.00.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on 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 cut Acuity Brands from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of AYI opened at $241.57 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $254.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $244.16. The stock has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 20.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.44. Acuity Brands has a 12 month low of $154.72 and a 12 month high of $272.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. The business had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.01 million. Equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 14.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Acuity Brands news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 85.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.