Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $200.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE AYI opened at $267.59 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $8.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.49. Acuity Brands has a fifty-two week low of $149.30 and a fifty-two week high of $270.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $247.46 and a 200-day moving average of $205.56.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 9th. The electronics maker reported $3.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.49. The company had revenue of $934.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $935.14 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 21.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.04 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 13.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total transaction of $429,419.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,946,172.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total value of $1,350,660.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,590.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total value of $429,419.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,946,172.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 17.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $187,987,000 after acquiring an additional 161,818 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 6,936 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $414,000. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.0% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 285,055 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $48,548,000 after purchasing an additional 16,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Genus Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.3% during the third quarter. Genus Capital Management Inc. now owns 39,135 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,665,000 after purchasing an additional 5,205 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.