William Blair Upgrades Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) to “Outperform”

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was upgraded by equities researchers at William Blair from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer upped 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI stock opened at $301.60 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $314.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $278.38. 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 cap of $9.31 billion, a PE ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. Acuity Brands has a 1 year low of $201.88 and a 1 year high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for 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 revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 770 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,849,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Acuity Brands by 24.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 95,551 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $26,314,000 after purchasing an additional 18,919 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $83,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.