Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $200.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $215.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AYI opened at $268.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $205.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.85. Acuity Brands has a one year low of $149.30 and a one year high of $270.95. The company has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.49.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 9th. The electronics maker reported $3.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.49. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.43% and a net margin of 9.56%. The company had revenue of $934.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $935.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.04 EPS. Acuity Brands’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 13.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.13%.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total transaction of $1,350,660.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,590.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total value of $1,350,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,925,590.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total value of $429,419.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,946,172.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AYI. Aurora Investment Counsel boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the third quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 5,938 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, SouthState Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 1,854 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.