Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Short Interest Update

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,180,000 shares, a growth of 8.3% from the March 31st total of 1,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 234,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 2.2 %

AYI stock traded down $5.60 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $248.40. The company had a trading volume of 238,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 264,935. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $149.30 and a 52-week high of $272.74. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $257.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $220.85.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The firm had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 200 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Acuity Brands news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 77.3% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $289.25.

Acuity Brands 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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