Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $317.60.

A number of brokerages have commented on AYI. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 6.3%

Shares of AYI stock traded up $16.21 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $272.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 376,564. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $252.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $294.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.60. Acuity Brands has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 911 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 398 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 951 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 1,896 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.