Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Reaches New 12-Month High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Acuity (NYSE:AYI) reached a new 12-month high, trading at $349.00, with analysts showing a strong optimistic outlook including a consensus target price of $352.60.
• The company recently reported strong earnings, with $5.12 earnings per share, beating expectations by $0.68 and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 21.7%.
• Acuity declared a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, with a low payout ratio of 5.36%, indicating a potential for stable returns for investors.

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $349.00 and last traded at $347.04, with a volume of 68440 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $339.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Acuity from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Acuity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $352.60.

Acuity Stock Down 0.2%

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 fifty day moving average price of $319.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $283.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.65.

Acuity (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Acuity, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. Acuity's payout ratio is 5.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Acuity news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.04, for a total transaction of $1,806,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $1,230,487.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,980,115.40. This represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 1,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 96 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity by 525.0% during the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Acuity by 3,175.0% during the second quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.