Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a $370.00 target price on the electronics maker’s stock, up from their prior target price of $304.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.58% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on AYI. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

NYSE AYI opened at $325.77 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $315.37 and its 200-day moving average is $282.19. 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 company has a market capitalization of $10.09 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $217.64 and a 12-month high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for 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 company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Acuity Brands by 105.8% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,363 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,916,000 after purchasing an additional 10,470 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.7% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 15,813 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,831,000 after acquiring an additional 571 shares during the period. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the second quarter valued at about $423,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Acuity Brands by 40.9% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,301 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,970,000 after acquiring an additional 3,573 shares during the period. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $215,000. 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.