Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $333.35 and last traded at $333.35, with a volume of 3761 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $330.19.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AYI. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

The stock has a market cap of $10.25 billion, a PE ratio of 24.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $288.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $262.85.

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

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.46%.

Insider Transactions 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 835,521 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $201,728,000 after purchasing an additional 20,537 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Acuity Brands by 3.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 629,893 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $152,085,000 after acquiring an additional 20,832 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 442,007 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $106,201,000 after acquiring an additional 63,159 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 437,745 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $120,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 366.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $83,430,000 after purchasing an additional 271,485 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Acuity Brands

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.