Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $312.45 and last traded at $312.32, with a volume of 34111 shares. The stock had previously closed at $307.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $283.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $261.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. Acuity Brands’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

Insider Activity at Acuity Brands

In related news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AYI. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 19.5% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,783 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the first quarter worth approximately $140,000. Csenge Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth $228,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 1,626.1% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,309 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $7,876,000 after acquiring an additional 27,611 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands 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.