Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $341.40.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of AYI opened at $335.02 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $316.09 and a 200 day moving average of $287.05. The company has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 24.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $217.64 and a 52-week high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.72 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 15.7 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. Institutional investors 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.