Short Interest in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Drops By 13.4%

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 753,500 shares, a drop of 13.4% from the October 31st total of 870,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 259,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AYI traded up $1.87 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $323.94. 38,871 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 254,572. Acuity Brands has a twelve month low of $181.18 and a twelve month high of $337.99. The company has a market capitalization of $10.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $308.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $269.78.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.74 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AYI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 23,789 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,394,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth $1,706,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 291.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after buying an additional 4,854 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at about $376,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Acuity Brands by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 635 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.