Short Interest in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Decreases By 12.5%

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

Insider Activity

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AYI. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 517.6% during the third 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 period. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI traded down $5.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $312.85. The stock had a trading volume of 224,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,866. The firm 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 current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. Acuity Brands has a 12 month low of $199.47 and a 12 month high of $337.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $315.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.16.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.49% and a net margin of 11.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.74 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.