Short Interest in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Increases By 28.6%

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 991,500 shares, a growth of 28.6% from the February 28th total of 771,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 339,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Currently, 3.2% of the company's stock are short sold.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 11.4 %

AYI traded down $29.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $227.85. 551,137 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 283,013. The stock has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The business's 50 day moving average is $296.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $303.96. Acuity Brands has a fifty-two week low of $217.64 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.38 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Remove Ads

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $324.60.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. 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.