The Goldman Sachs Group Boosts Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Price Target to $303.00

by · The Cerbat Gem

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI – Free Report) had its price target boosted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $266.00 to $303.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the electronics maker’s stock.

AYI has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Read Our Latest Analysis on AYI

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $306.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a PE ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Acuity Brands has a 12 month low of $156.84 and a 12 month high of $307.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $252.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $254.39.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 14.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the first quarter worth $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the second quarter valued at $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 14.7% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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