Brokerages Set Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Target Price at $341.40

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $341.40.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

AYI stock opened at $267.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $307.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $302.72. Acuity Brands has a one year low of $217.64 and a one year high of $345.30.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This is an increase from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 5.01%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 32.8% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,042 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $7,447,000 after purchasing an additional 6,679 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,973 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 26.8% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,669 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $735,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.9% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 9,473 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth $251,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.