Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity (NYSE: AYI) from “hold” to “buy.” Despite the upgrade, analysts’ overall consensus remained “hold,” with an average price target of $374.20.
• Acuity reported quarterly EPS of $5.77, beating the $5.57 consensus estimate; revenue was $1.24 billion and rose 2.9% year over year.
• Several analysts recently lowered their price targets, while CEO Neil Ashe and CFO Karen Holcom made stock sales under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Acuity from $440.00 to $415.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Acuity from $360.00 to $348.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. William Blair lowered Acuity from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Acuity in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Acuity from $410.00 to $380.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $374.20.

Acuity Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $330.50 on Friday. Acuity has a one year low of $257.04 and a one year high of $380.17. The company has a 50 day moving average of $313.98 and a 200-day moving average of $310.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.24.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.57 by $0.20. Acuity had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 20.30%. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.20 earnings per share. Acuity's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity will post 20.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Acuity

In related news, CEO Neil Ashe sold 8,187 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.44, for a total value of $2,656,190.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,075 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,330,653. This represents a 9.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Karen Holcom sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.62, for a total transaction of $659,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 17,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,750,880.14. The trade was a 10.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,047 shares of company stock valued at $11,537,354. 2.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in shares of Acuity by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 42,944 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $16,175,000 after purchasing an additional 3,478 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 63.7% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 20,170 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $7,597,000 after purchasing an additional 7,846 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,450,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $9,736,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,121,983,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Acuity

Acuity NYSE: AYI designs, manufactures and sells lighting and building-management solutions. Its offerings include indoor and outdoor luminaires, lighting controls, building automation systems and related software for commercial, industrial, institutional and residential settings. The company sells products under a portfolio of brands, including Lithonia Lighting, Juno, Peerless, Gotham and Distech Controls. Its solutions help customers manage lighting, building systems and energy use across a range of facilities.

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