Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note published on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $370.00 price target on the electronics maker's stock, up from their prior price target of $304.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price 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. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $15.24 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $321.60. 669,143 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 503,218. The stock has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.93, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands has a 1 year low of $217.64 and a 1 year high of $337.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $315.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $282.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.72 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Burney Co. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,150 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,212,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 741.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 71,744 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $20,959,000 after purchasing an additional 63,221 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $516,000. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $202,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

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.