William Blair Raises Earnings Estimates for Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) – Research analysts at William Blair lifted their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Acuity Brands in a report released on Thursday, January 2nd. William Blair analyst R. Merkel now forecasts that the electronics maker will earn $3.63 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $3.50. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Acuity Brands’ current full-year earnings is $15.51 per share.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Acuity Brands in a research report on Monday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:AYI opened at $304.72 on Monday. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $204.34 and a twelve month high of $337.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $314.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.22.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,495,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 49,449 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $14,602,000 after acquiring an additional 2,677 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 770 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth $3,849,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.80% 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.