Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Short Interest Update

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,180,000 shares, an increase of 8.3% from the March 31st total of 1,090,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 234,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

AYI stock opened at $246.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a PE ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $257.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $221.03. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $149.30 and a 1-year high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 9.81%. The business had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Acuity Brands will post 14.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 224,289 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $45,941,000 after buying an additional 4,694 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 17.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $187,987,000 after acquiring an additional 161,818 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.7% during the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 6,936 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $414,000. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 285,055 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $48,548,000 after purchasing an additional 16,042 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.