Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Shares Gap Down to $237.53

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $237.53, but opened at $231.54. Acuity Brands shares last traded at $236.53, with a volume of 90,432 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.75.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 0.0 %

The company has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.44. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $254.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $243.83.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Acuity Brands news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.5% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.8% in the third quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 5,938 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 19.1% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 349 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently 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.