Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 856,500 shares, an increase of 8.3% from the January 15th total of 790,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 314,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 2.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI traded up $0.87 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $329.96. 147,186 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 314,777. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $345.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $317.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $295.77. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $10.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.40.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.72 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AYI shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $341.40.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Creative Planning increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,811 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,050,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $297,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 14.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,702 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.