Short Interest in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Decreases By 15.2%

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 840,700 shares, a decline of 15.2% from the March 15th total of 991,500 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 387,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE AYI traded up $9.11 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $243.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 497,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 299,430. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. Acuity Brands has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $266.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $298.83.

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

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.28%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $317.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at $33,000. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $31,026,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $83,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 24.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 95,551 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $26,314,000 after purchasing an additional 18,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,849,000. 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.