Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.17

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.17 per share by the electronics maker on Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th.

Acuity has a dividend payout ratio of 3.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Acuity to earn $17.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 3.9%.

Acuity Price Performance

AYI traded up $16.90 during trading on Thursday, hitting $304.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 950,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,583. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.60. Acuity has a twelve month low of $216.81 and a twelve month high of $345.30. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $260.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $282.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Acuity had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 19.73%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Acuity will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Acuity from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on Acuity in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $315.00 price target on Acuity and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $323.60.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Acuity stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 76,543 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 11,144 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 0.25% of Acuity worth $20,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Acuity 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.

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