William Blair Raises Earnings Estimates for Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) – William Blair upped their Q1 2026 EPS estimates for Acuity Brands in a note issued to investors on Thursday, March 27th. William Blair analyst R. Merkel now anticipates that the electronics maker will post earnings of $4.18 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $4.01. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Acuity Brands’ current full-year earnings is $15.86 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Acuity Brands’ Q2 2026 earnings at $4.05 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $4.84 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $18.11 EPS.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AYI. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $336.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Acuity Brands from $340.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $330.60.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $263.89 on Monday. Acuity Brands has a fifty-two week low of $217.64 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.43, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $299.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $304.54.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

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.