Brokerages Set Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Price Target at $352.60

Key Points

• Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from six analysts, with an average price target of $352.60.
• The company reported $5.12 earnings per share for its last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $4.44, and its revenue increased by 21.7% year-over-year.
• Acuity recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.2%, with a low payout ratio of 5.36%.

Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $352.60.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In other Acuity news, 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 transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,115.40. The trade was a 38.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This represents a 24.30% 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

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AYI. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 1,100.0% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 96 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of Acuity by 525.0% in the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Acuity by 3,175.0% in the second quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI traded down $2.87 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $336.57. The company had a trading volume of 303,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 332,064. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Acuity has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $314.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.65.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.15 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity's 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.