Acuity (NYSE:AYI) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Shares of Acuity, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $345.30 and last traded at $338.85, with a volume of 12385 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $339.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Acuity from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Acuity from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Acuity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Acuity from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.60.

Acuity Stock Down 0.2%

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $311.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.38 billion, a PE ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Acuity Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. Acuity’s payout ratio is 5.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 4,125 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total transaction of $1,230,487.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,638 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,115.40. This trade represents a 38.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 6,000 shares of Acuity stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,628,243.84. This trade represents a 24.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Acuity

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Acuity by 345.7% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 20,280 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,050,000 after buying an additional 15,730 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Acuity by 52.1% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,856 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,045,000 after acquiring an additional 2,348 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 700.2% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 12,723 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,796,000 after purchasing an additional 11,133 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of Acuity by 33.0% during the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Acuity in the second quarter valued at approximately $574,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.