Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $389.3333.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AYI. Robert W. Baird set a $375.00 price target on Acuity in a report on Friday, January 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. Zacks Research lowered Acuity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Acuity from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 12th.

Insider Transactions at Acuity

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 4,974 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.23, for a total value of $1,538,110.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,655,557.29. This trade represents a 18.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AYI. AG Campbell Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at $799,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Acuity by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 4,752 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,714,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Acuity in the fourth quarter worth about $283,000. Compound Planning Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 764 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 784.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 107,294 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $38,630,000 after purchasing an additional 95,161 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $275.37 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.18, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.50. Acuity has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $380.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $320.21 and a 200 day moving average of $341.34.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $4.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 9.04%.The company’s revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.97 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from Acuity’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. Acuity’s payout ratio is currently 6.15%.

About Acuity

Acuity Brands, Inc (NYSE: AYI) is a leading provider of lighting fixtures, controls and building management solutions designed for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential markets. The company’s core offerings include a broad range of LED luminaires, lighting controls, sensors and networked building systems that enhance energy efficiency, occupant comfort and operational productivity. Acuity Brands’ portfolio spans indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures, emergency lighting, task lighting and architectural products, as well as advanced controls such as daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and wireless sensor networks.

Beyond traditional lighting, Acuity Brands delivers integrated digital solutions through its Connected Building platform, which combines smart sensors, cloud-based analytics and mobile applications to enable real-time monitoring and remote management of lighting and environmental systems.