Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Stock Rating Upgraded by William Blair

William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

AYI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI stock opened at $298.52 on Thursday. Acuity Brands has a 12 month low of $200.27 and a 12 month high of $337.99. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $314.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $278.08. The stock has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. 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) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Acuity Brands by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 13,937 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,365,000 after buying an additional 2,068 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 105.8% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,363 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,916,000 after purchasing an additional 10,470 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in Acuity Brands by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,622 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,082,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 29,170 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $7,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,893 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.