Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $339.34 and last traded at $337.10, with a volume of 9401 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $335.78.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com lowered Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair upgraded Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $315.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $285.67. The stock has a market cap of $10.45 billion, a PE ratio of 24.85, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.10. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business had revenue of $951.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $955.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.72 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.17 dividend. This is a boost from Acuity Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 4.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $1,561,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 517.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 105 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the third quarter valued at $33,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.