Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) Releases FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 14.750-15.500 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 14.910. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Acuity Brands also updated its FY24 guidance to $14.75-$15.50 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $200.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Acuity Brands from $236.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $215.00.

Acuity Brands Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of AYI stock traded up $2.86 on Wednesday, reaching $264.69. 584,759 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 272,460. The company has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.40, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $250.34 and a 200-day moving average of $208.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.85. Acuity Brands has a one year low of $149.30 and a one year high of $272.74.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 9th. The electronics maker reported $3.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.49. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 21.43%. The company had revenue of $934.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $935.14 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Acuity Brands will post 13.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Acuity Brands

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,925,590.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Dianne S. Mills sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.11, for a total transaction 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 approximately $1,925,590.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 1,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.01, for a total transaction of $429,419.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,946,172.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Acuity Brands

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 2,926.7% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 454 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 568 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in Acuity Brands by 110.6% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 773 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 406 shares during the period. 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.