Robert W. Baird Reiterates $315.00 Price Target for Acuity (NYSE:AYI)

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) has been assigned a $315.00 target price by stock analysts at Robert W. Baird in a research note issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the electronics maker’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 13.48% from the company’s current price.

AYI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.60.

Acuity Price Performance

NYSE AYI opened at $277.59 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $255.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $284.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.60. Acuity has a 52-week low of $216.81 and a 52-week high of $345.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 19.73%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Acuity will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Acuity in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in Acuity by 525.0% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Acuity in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Acuity by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Acuity by 45.3% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

About Acuity

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.