Short Interest in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Increases By 26.0%

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,090,000 shares, an increase of 26.0% from the March 15th total of 864,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 263,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days. Currently, 3.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total value of $1,350,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,590.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total transaction of $1,350,660.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,590.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 77.3% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 85.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 221 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AYI shares. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $289.25.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands stock traded down $5.19 during trading on Monday, hitting $252.39. The stock had a trading volume of 241,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 270,025. The business has a fifty day moving average of $254.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $214.54. The firm has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.49. Acuity Brands has a fifty-two week low of $149.30 and a fifty-two week high of $272.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

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.