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

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 659,100 shares, a decline of 12.5% from the November 15th total of 753,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 270,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 1.6 %

AYI traded down $5.03 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $312.85. The stock had a trading volume of 224,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,866. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $315.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $274.16. The company has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $199.47 and a twelve month high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

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.