Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Reaches New 52-Week High After Dividend Announcement

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $275.63 and last traded at $273.80, with a volume of 44734 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $269.74.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $286.25.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.95, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $248.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.10.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AYI. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 5,666.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 900.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 250 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Acuity Brands by 4,214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.