Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.68 EPS

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68, RTT News reports. Acuity had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 9.63%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Acuity Price Performance

AYI traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $303.86. The stock had a trading volume of 702,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,893. The stock has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.99. Acuity has a one year low of $216.81 and a one year high of $345.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $263.22 and a 200-day moving average of $282.14.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. Acuity's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Acuity from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $340.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.