Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Receives $340.60 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Key Points

• Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from six research firms, with a 12-month price objective averaging $340.60.
• Recent analyst updates include a target price increase from Morgan Stanley to $365.00 and an upgrade to a “strong-buy” rating from Wall Street Zen.
• Acuity's latest earnings report showed an EPS of $5.12, exceeding estimates, and a revenue growth of 21.7% year-over-year, totaling $1.18 billion.

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $340.60.

Several research firms have commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 50,220.2% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,268,433 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $676,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,263,925 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Acuity by 158.9% during the 4th quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $317,977,000 after acquiring an additional 668,048 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter valued at about $119,587,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity in the second quarter valued at about $115,595,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Acuity by 29,415.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227,271 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $59,852,000 after purchasing an additional 226,501 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Trading Up 0.8%

AYI stock traded up $2.6350 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $322.0150. 22,139 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 342,296. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50 day moving average of $298.13 and a 200-day moving average of $279.81. Acuity has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Acuity will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.36%.

Acuity 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.