Short Interest in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Decreases By 11.8%

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 755,300 shares, a decline of 11.8% from the January 31st total of 856,500 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 301,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

NYSE AYI traded up $3.16 during trading on Thursday, reaching $280.00. 347,450 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 259,743. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $217.64 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $315.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $301.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.01%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Acuity Brands by 63.0% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in Acuity Brands by 2,923.1% during the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 393 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Ashford Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $13,789,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Acuity Brands by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 154,163 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $45,036,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $341.40.

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.