Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Short Interest Up 7.9% in June

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,640,000 shares, a growth of 7.9% from the May 31st total of 1,520,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 263,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.2 days. Approximately 5.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $243.31. 116,207 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 268,397. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Acuity Brands has a 52 week low of $155.34 and a 52 week high of $272.74. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $254.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.43.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $968.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 14.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 14.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 635 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. SG Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at about $5,699,000. EULAV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth about $9,943,000. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the first quarter worth about $376,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Acuity Brands by 291.2% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 4,854 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.