Brokerages Set Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) PT at $317.60

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $317.60.

Several research analysts have commented on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on Acuity Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Durable Capital Partners LP grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 158.9% during the 4th quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $317,977,000 after buying an additional 668,048 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth $110,236,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 29,415.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $59,852,000 after buying an additional 226,501 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 103.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 312,904 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $82,403,000 after buying an additional 158,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 34.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 613,217 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $157,910,000 after buying an additional 157,790 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $264.43 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $250.71 and its 200 day moving average is $287.58. The stock has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

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.