StockNews.com Downgrades Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) to Buy

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on AYI. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $312.89 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $315.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.53. Acuity Brands has a fifty-two week low of $199.47 and a fifty-two week high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.74 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $1,561,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,849,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 95,551 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $26,314,000 after buying an additional 18,919 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $83,000. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,026,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.