Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Hits New 52-Week High at $273.36

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $273.36 and last traded at $271.03, with a volume of 17631 shares. The stock had previously closed at $267.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on AYI shares. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 1.4 %

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $252.38. The company has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 21.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $968.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.50 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 18th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,149,459 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $235,444,000 after acquiring an additional 45,666 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 835,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $201,728,000 after purchasing an additional 20,537 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $152,085,000 after purchasing an additional 20,832 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $106,201,000 after purchasing an additional 63,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $98,306,000 after purchasing an additional 107,171 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.