Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Price Target Cut to $310.00 by Analysts at Robert W. Baird

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) had its target price reduced by equities researchers at Robert W. Baird from $340.00 to $310.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the electronics maker’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 14.36% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $339.80.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $271.07 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $304.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $303.82. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $217.64 and a twelve month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 192.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,615 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,640,000 after acquiring an additional 3,697 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 7,245 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,116,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,601,000. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 63.0% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.