William Blair Forecasts Stronger Earnings for Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) – Stock analysts at William Blair boosted their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for Acuity Brands in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, March 27th. William Blair analyst R. Merkel now forecasts that the electronics maker will post earnings of $4.18 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $4.01. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Acuity Brands’ current full-year earnings is $15.86 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Acuity Brands’ Q2 2026 earnings at $4.05 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $4.84 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $18.11 EPS.

Several other research firms also recently commented on AYI. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Acuity Brands from $336.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $340.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $330.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.0 %

AYI stock opened at $262.44 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $217.64 and a 1-year high of $345.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $301.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $304.43.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The company had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.01%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 2,504 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 92.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 6,566 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after purchasing an additional 3,157 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at about $3,273,000. Atom Investors LP purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth about $2,710,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 33.3% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.