Acuity Brands, Inc. provides lighting and building management solutions in North America and internationally. The company operates through 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 Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Gotham, Mark Architectural Lighting, Winona Lighting, Juno, Indy, Aculux, Healthcare Lighting, Hydrel, American Electric Lighting, Sunoptics, eldoLED, nLight, Sensor Switch, IOTA, A-Light, Cyclone, Eureka, Lumniaire LED, Luminis, Dark to Light, and RELOC Wiring Solutions brands. This segment serves electrical distributors, retail home improvement centers, electric utilities, national accounts, digital retailers, lighting showrooms, and energy service companies. The ISG segment offers building management systems and location-aware applications under the Distech Controls, Atrius, and Rockpile Ventures brands. This segment serves system integrators, as well as retail stores, airports, and enterprise campuses. Acuity Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Acuity Brands Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE:AYI traded up $5.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $179.35. The stock had a trading volume of 180,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 295,753. Acuity Brands has a 1-year low of $142.71 and a 1-year high of $224.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.72, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.58. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $167.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.71.
Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 30th. The electronics maker reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.50. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.62 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 11.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Acuity Brands Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 14th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.01%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
AYI has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 1st. Credit Suisse Group dropped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $241.00 to $211.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $200.00 to $181.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Tuesday, July 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $210.57.
Insider Activity at Acuity Brands
In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 906 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.47, for a total transaction of $160,787.82. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,749 shares in the company, valued at $842,805.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Acuity Brands news, Director Laura O'shaughnessy bought 575 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $174.54 per share, for a total transaction of $100,360.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,479 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $258,144.66. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 906 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.47, for a total transaction of $160,787.82. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at $842,805.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.
