Robert W. Baird Issues Positive Forecast for Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Stock Price

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) had its target price hoisted by stock analysts at Robert W. Baird from $315.00 to $335.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the electronics maker’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price points to a potential upside of 10.25% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price objective on Acuity in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Acuity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $340.60.

Acuity Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of AYI opened at $303.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $263.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $282.43. The stock has a market cap of $9.39 billion, a PE ratio of 23.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.60. Acuity has a 12 month low of $216.81 and a 12 month high of $345.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.62% and a net margin of 9.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Acuity will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,118,613 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $821,287,000 after buying an additional 14,071 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 1.7% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,139,857 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $300,181,000 after buying an additional 18,878 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Acuity by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $326,452,000 after buying an additional 103,162 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in Acuity by 0.9% in the first quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,098,485 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $289,286,000 after buying an additional 10,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity by 3.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,491 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $219,237,000 after buying an additional 24,225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Company Profile

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.