Maya Leibman Purchases 200 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Stock

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Director Maya Leibman acquired 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $248.91 per share, with a total value of $49,782.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AYI opened at $252.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $257.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $219.57. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.30 and a 1 year high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $905.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.01 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 21.22%. Analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.48 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Acuity Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.25.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sound Shore Management Inc CT acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $61,001,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,686,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 41.5% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 844,969 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $143,907,000 after purchasing an additional 247,774 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 35.8% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 709,647 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $120,585,000 after purchasing an additional 187,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 17.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,103,793 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $187,987,000 after purchasing an additional 161,818 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.