Zacks Research Predicts Lower Earnings for Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) – Research analysts at Zacks Research cut their Q3 2025 earnings per share estimates for Acuity Brands in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, January 21st. Zacks Research analyst A. Ram now expects that the electronics maker will earn $4.07 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $4.09. The consensus estimate for Acuity Brands’ current full-year earnings is $15.70 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Acuity Brands’ Q4 2025 earnings at $4.42 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $15.51 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $3.88 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $3.79 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $4.33 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $4.75 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $16.75 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $4.28 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $18.17 EPS.

AYI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $337.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.85, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.98. Acuity Brands has a fifty-two week low of $217.64 and a fifty-two week high of $340.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $315.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $285.67.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.72 earnings per share.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. This is an increase from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.42%.

Acuity Brands 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.