Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Price Target Raised to $320.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $285.00 to $320.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the electronics maker's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective indicates a potential upside of 6.73% from the company's current price.

AYI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on Acuity in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird set a $315.00 price objective on Acuity and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $330.60.

Acuity Stock Down 1.4%

NYSE AYI opened at $299.83 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $261.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $282.82. Acuity has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The firm has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.60.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 19.73% and a net margin of 10.53%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Acuity will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $821,287,000 after acquiring an additional 14,071 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Acuity by 1.7% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,139,857 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $300,181,000 after purchasing an additional 18,878 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Acuity by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $326,452,000 after buying an additional 103,162 shares in the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in Acuity by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,098,485 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $289,286,000 after buying an additional 10,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Acuity by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,491 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $219,237,000 after acquiring an additional 24,225 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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