Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Sets New 52-Week Low – Should You Sell?

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $216.81 and last traded at $219.00, with a volume of 97771 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $223.31.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AYI shares. StockNews.com cut Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of Acuity Brands in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $290.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $317.60.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 9.2 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, a PE ratio of 17.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $287.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $303.08.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.06. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is presently 5.16%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,104,542 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $906,930,000 after buying an additional 16,407 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Acuity Brands by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,120,979 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $327,471,000 after purchasing an additional 8,705 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Acuity Brands by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,117,489 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $326,452,000 after purchasing an additional 103,162 shares during the period. Durable Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 158.9% during the fourth quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,088,477 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $317,977,000 after purchasing an additional 668,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 969,043 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $266,865,000 after buying an additional 12,479 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.