Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $312.45 and last traded at $312.32, with a volume of 34111 shares. The stock had previously closed at $307.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $10.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $283.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $261.16.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 148.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 8.0% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,965,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 15.0% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $11,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,474 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Acuity Brands in the first quarter valued at $757,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $1,706,000. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.