Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Price Target Cut to $295.00 by Analysts at Robert W. Baird

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Robert W. Baird from $310.00 to $295.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the electronics maker's stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $336.00 to $290.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair raised Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 7.3 %

Shares of AYI traded up $16.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $239.57. The company had a trading volume of 172,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 289,305. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a PE ratio of 17.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. Acuity Brands has a one year low of $212.09 and a one year high of $345.30. The company's fifty day moving average price is $287.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $303.08.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.16%.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.