Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Rating Lowered to "Buy" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Monday. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $304.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $328.20.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI traded down $8.45 on Friday, reaching $305.19. 445,513 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 494,035. The company's 50-day moving average price is $315.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.59. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands has a fifty-two week low of $217.64 and a fifty-two week high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $3,849,000. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 42.0% in the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 6,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $484,000. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the third quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 21,285 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $5,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth $813,000. 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.