Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Research Coverage Started at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) in a research note released on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating and a $304.00 target price on the electronics maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:AYI opened at $312.99 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $315.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.91. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $214.32 and a twelve month high of $337.99. The stock has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.29, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,965,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,849,000. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 6,477 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,784,000 after buying an additional 1,917 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $484,000. Finally, McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 21,285 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,862,000 after buying an additional 2,773 shares during the period. 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.