Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $397.1667.

A number of equities analysts have commented on AYI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity from $295.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Acuity from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Acuity from $315.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $465.00 price target on shares of Acuity in a research note on Friday, June 26th.

Acuity Stock Performance

AYI opened at $336.96 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Acuity has a 12-month low of $257.04 and a 12-month high of $380.17. The business has a 50 day moving average of $340.56 and a 200-day moving average of $307.91. The stock has a market cap of $10.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.30.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The electronics maker reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.26% and a net margin of 10.25%.The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Acuity will post 18.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 17th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.31%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Acuity during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Miller Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new stake in Acuity in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Acuity in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

About Acuity

Acuity Brands, Inc (NYSE: AYI) is a leading provider of lighting fixtures, controls and building management solutions designed for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential markets. The company’s core offerings include a broad range of LED luminaires, lighting controls, sensors and networked building systems that enhance energy efficiency, occupant comfort and operational productivity. Acuity Brands’ portfolio spans indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures, emergency lighting, task lighting and architectural products, as well as advanced controls such as daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and wireless sensor networks.

Beyond traditional lighting, Acuity Brands delivers integrated digital solutions through its Connected Building platform, which combines smart sensors, cloud-based analytics and mobile applications to enable real-time monitoring and remote management of lighting and environmental systems.