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

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $369.1667.

A number of research firms recently commented on AYI. Weiss Ratings cut Acuity from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Acuity from $342.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Acuity from $385.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Acuity from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th.

Acuity Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of AYI stock opened at $287.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.07. Acuity has a 52-week low of $253.03 and a 52-week high of $380.17. The company has a market capitalization of $8.73 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $280.72 and its 200 day moving average is $317.11.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 2nd. The electronics maker reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 9.37%.The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity will post 18.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 17th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 17th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $288.83 per share, with a total value of $57,766.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 400 shares in the company, valued at $115,532. The trade was a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura O’shaughnessy bought 1,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $282.98 per share, for a total transaction of $282,980.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 3,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $880,350.78. The trade was a 47.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 98.4% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 571,017 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $196,653,000 after buying an additional 283,203 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 121.3% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 9,312 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,207,000 after buying an additional 5,105 shares during the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 6.9% during the third quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. now owns 99,560 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $34,287,000 after buying an additional 6,452 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 9.0% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 96,784 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $33,332,000 after buying an additional 7,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 7.8% during the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 215,809 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $74,322,000 after buying an additional 15,611 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Acuity Company Profile

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.