Acuity Brands (AYI) Set to Announce Earnings on Wednesday

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) is set to post its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Wednesday, April 3rd. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $2.87 per share for the quarter. Investors that wish to listen to the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 9th. The electronics maker reported $3.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $934.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $935.14 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 21.43% and a net margin of 9.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect Acuity Brands to post $14 EPS for the current fiscal year and $15 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Acuity Brands stock opened at $268.73 on Monday. Acuity Brands has a 12-month low of $149.30 and a 12-month high of $270.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $249.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Acuity Brands from $200.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.00.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total value of $1,350,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,925,590.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total value of $429,419.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,946,172.11. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total value of $1,350,660.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,925,590.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 620.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,197,721 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $198,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031,432 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $56,734,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,208,990 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $228,862,000 after purchasing an additional 195,515 shares during the period. Imprint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $10,584,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 316,626 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $52,436,000 after acquiring an additional 65,169 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.