Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Given New $380.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

by · The Markets Daily

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI – Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by Oppenheimer from $370.00 to $380.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the electronics maker’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on AYI. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Acuity Brands in a research report on Monday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $304.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $328.20.

View Our Latest Research Report on Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands Trading Up 3.0 %

NYSE:AYI opened at $312.99 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.29, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands has a 52 week low of $214.32 and a 52 week high of $337.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $315.26 and a 200 day moving average of $280.14.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Private Client Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $1,377,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 83.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,119 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,495,000 after buying an additional 2,323 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 49,449 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $14,602,000 after acquiring an additional 2,677 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 770 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 293 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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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