Acuity Brands, Inc. (AYI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 on May 1st

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 28th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the electronics maker on Wednesday, May 1st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th.

Acuity Brands has a payout ratio of 3.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Acuity Brands to earn $15.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 3.8%.

Acuity Brands Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $257.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $254.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.21. Acuity Brands has a 52-week low of $149.30 and a 52-week high of $272.74. The firm has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.49.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report 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 raised their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” 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 report on Friday, April 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $289.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at $5,320,062.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total value of $1,350,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,590.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total transaction of $2,031,048.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares in the company, valued at $5,320,062.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State of Wyoming raised its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 610.5% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,350 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC acquired a new position in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $223,000. Capula Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company’s stock.

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.