Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Upgraded at William Blair

William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

AYI has been the subject of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $301.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The stock has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $314.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $278.38. Acuity Brands has a one year low of $201.88 and a one year high of $337.99.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 229.7% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 244 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.