Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $374.20 According to Brokerages

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $374.20.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. William Blair downgraded Acuity from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Acuity from $410.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Acuity in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Acuity from $440.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 8th.

Acuity Price Performance

Shares of Acuity stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $330.50. 183,217 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 285,075. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.70. Acuity has a 1-year low of $257.04 and a 1-year high of $380.17. The company has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $313.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $310.65.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $5.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.57 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 20.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Acuity will post 20.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 16th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 16th. Acuity’s payout ratio is currently 4.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Neil Ashe sold 22,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.33, for a total value of $7,000,299.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 86,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,373,520.46. This represents a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.62, for a total value of $659,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 17,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,750,880.14. This represents a 10.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,047 shares of company stock valued at $11,537,354. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in Acuity during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Acuity during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Acuity by 110.2% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 103 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Company Profile

Acuity (NYSE: AYI) designs, manufactures and sells lighting and building-management solutions. Its offerings include indoor and outdoor luminaires, lighting controls, building automation systems and related software for commercial, industrial, institutional and residential settings. The company sells products under a portfolio of brands, including Lithonia Lighting, Juno, Peerless, Gotham and Distech Controls. Its solutions help customers manage lighting, building systems and energy use across a range of facilities.