Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,090,000 shares, an increase of 26.0% from the March 15th total of 864,800 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 263,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.
Acuity Brands Trading Down 2.0 %
Acuity Brands stock traded down $5.19 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $252.39. 241,770 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 270,025. The firm has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $214.54. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $149.30 and a 12-month high of $272.74.
Acuity Brands Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.02%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands
In other news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total transaction of $1,350,660.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,590.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands
Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,365,821 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $573,233,000 after acquiring an additional 17,459 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,313,389 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $627,225,000 after purchasing an additional 60,541 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,982,396 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $564,568,000 after purchasing an additional 25,598 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,208,990 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $228,862,000 after purchasing an additional 195,515 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 620.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,197,721 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $198,355,000 after buying an additional 1,031,432 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $289.25.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Acuity Brands
About Acuity Brands
(
Get Free Report)
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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