Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,750,000 shares, a decrease of 6.4% from the November 30th total of 1,870,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 325,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days. Approximately 5.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $170.00 to $180.00 in a report on Thursday, October 5th. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $200.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.80.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Aurora Investment Counsel boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 5,938 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. SouthState Corp boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 1,854 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 231 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,464 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $891,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 402 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. 95.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Acuity Brands Stock Performance
NYSE AYI traded down $1.67 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $201.21. The company had a trading volume of 790,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 487,383. Acuity Brands has a fifty-two week low of $149.30 and a fifty-two week high of $207.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $171.85. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.47.
Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 4th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.24. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 8.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 12.55 EPS for the current year.
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.