Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Price Target to $289.00

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $260.00 to $289.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the electronics maker's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target would suggest a potential upside of 6.07% from the company's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $286.25.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

NYSE AYI traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $272.46. The company had a trading volume of 157,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 249,219. The company has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 22.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $247.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $252.77. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $156.84 and a twelve month high of $275.05.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The business had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.50 EPS. Acuity Brands's revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands during the second quarter worth $41,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.