Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $275.39, but opened at $290.02. Acuity Brands shares last traded at $293.56, with a volume of 43,149 shares traded.

The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 10.12%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is presently 4.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AYI. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $324.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 3.5% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,903 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel grew its position in Acuity Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 5,999 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,148,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Acuity Brands by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,764 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 0.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $250.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $253.78.

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.