Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Hits New 1-Year High After Dividend Announcement

Key Points

• Acuity (NYSE:AYI) shares reached a new 52-week high at $350.00 following a dividend announcement, trading at $355.83 after a previous close of $344.39.
• The company announced a dividend of $0.17 per share, with a 0.2% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 5.36%, to be paid on November 3rd.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Acuity, with upgrades and price targets ranging from $360.00 to $380.00 and a current consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $350.00 and last traded at $355.83, with a volume of 4835 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $344.39.The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. Acuity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $357.60.

Acuity Trading Up 4.6%

The stock has a market cap of $11.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $325.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $286.61.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 1.8% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,134 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $637,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Acuity by 8.7% during the second quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 565 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in Acuity by 2.4% in the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Acuity by 3.2% in the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Acuity by 5.4% in the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 955 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company's stock.

About Acuity

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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