Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Hits New 12-Month High - Time to Buy?

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AYI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target 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 shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $280.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.16.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.74 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,573,590. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 4.3% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,662,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 19.5% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,783 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,017,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 38.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 51,890 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $13,913,000 after buying an additional 14,329 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the first quarter valued at $140,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 19.8% during the 1st quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 3,213 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $864,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.