Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Lifted to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Friday.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $265.40.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $7.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $272.12. 309,261 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 274,563. The company's 50-day moving average is $251.61 and its 200-day moving average is $209.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $149.30 and a 52-week high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 9th. The electronics maker reported $3.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.49. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The business had revenue of $934.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $935.14 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.04 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 13.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total transaction of $429,419.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,611 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,946,172.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,590.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total transaction of $429,419.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,611 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,946,172.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,645 shares of company stock worth $3,811,128. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.2% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 20,688 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $3,916,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 12,834 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $2,429,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,982,396 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $564,568,000 after acquiring an additional 25,598 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth $1,395,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 9.1% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 19,747 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $3,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Acuity Brands

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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