Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $341.40.

Several research firms have commented on AYI. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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, William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 1.9 %

Acuity Brands stock traded down $6.43 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $328.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 266,234 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,533. The stock has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $316.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $287.39. Acuity Brands has a 12 month low of $217.64 and a 12 month high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.72 EPS. Acuity Brands's revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 15.7 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 18.3% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,650 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $2,332,000 after buying an additional 1,494 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 978.8% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 30,844 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $7,447,000 after acquiring an additional 27,985 shares during the period. AXA S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 73.1% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 34,004 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $8,210,000 after acquiring an additional 14,355 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 353.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 173,683 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $41,934,000 after purchasing an additional 135,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the second quarter valued at about $430,000. 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.