Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Hits New 1-Year High After Dividend Announcement

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI – Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $275.63 and last traded at $273.80, with a volume of 44734 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $269.74. The newly announced [...]

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Acuity Brands, Inc. ( NYSE:AYI – Get Free Report ) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $275.

63 and last traded at $273.80, with a volume of 44734 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $269.



74. The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a $0.

15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.

22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.

88%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth AYI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W.

Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th.

Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th.

Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock.

According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $286.25. Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.

1 % The company’s 50 day moving average price is $248.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.10.

The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.

22. The stock has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.

95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41.

Acuity Brands ( NYSE:AYI – Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The electronics maker reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.

82 by $0.33. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.

12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The firm had revenue of $968.

10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.

50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis.

As a group, research analysts expect that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 38.1% in the first quarter.

Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 51,890 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $13,913,000 after buying an additional 14,329 shares in the last quarter. Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $737,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 148.

4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,166,000 after buying an additional 2,627 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 8.

0% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,965,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd.

raised its stake in Acuity Brands by 15.0% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.

now owns 42,027 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $11,281,000 after buying an additional 5,474 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

About Acuity Brands ( Get Free Report ) 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.

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