Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.3 %

AYI stock opened at $303.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $315.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $276.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. Acuity Brands has a 12 month low of $200.27 and a 12 month high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,849,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 95,551 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $26,314,000 after purchasing an additional 18,919 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $83,000. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,026,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.