Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Expected to Earn Q3 2024 Earnings of $3.87 Per Share

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) – Stock analysts at William Blair dropped their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for Acuity Brands in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, June 27th. William Blair analyst R. Merkel now expects that the electronics maker will post earnings per share of $3.87 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $4.09. The consensus estimate for Acuity Brands’ current full-year earnings is $14.16 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Acuity Brands’ Q4 2024 earnings at $3.73 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $14.14 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $3.69 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.43 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $4.30 EPS.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 3rd. The electronics maker reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.23. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The business had revenue of $905.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.01 million.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on AYI. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Acuity Brands from $227.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Acuity Brands from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $295.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.00.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

AYI opened at $241.44 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $254.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $244.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.44. Acuity Brands has a 52 week low of $154.72 and a 52 week high of $272.74.

Institutional Trading of Acuity Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Acuity Brands by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,149,459 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $235,444,000 after purchasing an additional 45,666 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 12.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 820,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $139,667,000 after acquiring an additional 89,192 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 625,077 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $128,035,000 after acquiring an additional 36,488 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Acuity Brands by 14.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 549,297 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $93,551,000 after acquiring an additional 71,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,686,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,782. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Karen J. Holcom sold 7,745 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.24, for a total value of $2,031,048.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,320,062.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Maya Leibman bought 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $248.91 per share, for a total transaction of $49,782.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,782. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.88%.

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.