Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $287.49, but opened at $308.46. Acuity shares last traded at $300.95, with a volume of 128,182 shares traded.

The electronics maker reported $5.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.44 by $0.68. Acuity had a return on equity of 19.73% and a net margin of 10.53%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Acuity’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Acuity from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird set a $315.00 price target on shares of Acuity and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Acuity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.60.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in Acuity by 525.0% in the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 125 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Acuity by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 161 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in shares of Acuity during the 4th quarter valued at $71,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Trading Up 5.9%

The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.41 billion, a PE ratio of 23.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $261.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $282.82.

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.