Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Acuity (NYSE:AYI) to Overweight

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) from "equal weight" to "overweight" with a new price target of $380.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.61% from its last close.
• Acuity reported $5.12 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and reflecting a revenue increase of 21.7% year-over-year.
• Insider selling included CFO Karen J. Holcom disposing of 6,000 shares, representing a significant reduction of 24.30% in her holdings after the sale.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $380.00 price target on the electronics maker's stock, up from their previous price target of $320.00. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.61% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $352.60.

Acuity Stock Down 1.1%

AYI opened at $325.86 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.65. Acuity has a 52 week low of $216.81 and a 52 week high of $345.30. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $308.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.94.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm 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 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares in the company, valued at $5,628,243.84. The trade was a 24.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 1,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 96 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Acuity in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 525.0% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Acuity by 3,175.0% in the 2nd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

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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