News headlines about Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) have been trending somewhat positive on Monday, Accern Sentiment reports. The research group rates the sentiment of media coverage by analyzing more than twenty million news and blog sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Acuity Brands earned a media sentiment score of 0.17 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news articles about the electronics maker an impact score of 46.4054824844978 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the near term.
Here are some of the media stories that may have impacted Accern’s rankings:
- Acuity Brands Inc (NYSE:AYI) Analysts Digging into the Details - Evergreen Caller (evergreencaller.com)
- Acuity Brands Inc (AYI) Price Moves Above the Cloud - Evergreen Caller (evergreencaller.com)
- Acuity Brands Inc (AYI) Needle Moving 0.26% - Stock Press Daily (stockpressdaily.com)
- Stocks in the Limelight: Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI), Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLK) - FLBC News (flbcnews.com)
- Acuity Brands, Inc. (AYI) registers a price change of -1.60% while Brady Corporation (BRC) finishes with a flow of 0.45% - Stocks Gallery (stocksgallery.com)
Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 29th. The electronics maker reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $891.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $878.66 million. Acuity Brands had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 9.04%. Acuity Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.06 earnings per share.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 18th will be given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 14th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.24%.
Acuity Brands announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, June 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase 2,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the electronics maker to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.
Several research analysts have weighed in on AYI shares. Deutsche Bank AG reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 target price (down from $245.00) on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Tuesday, May 30th. Roth Capital set a $150.00 target price on Acuity Brands and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Acuity Brands from $242.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $183.00 target price (up from $170.00) on shares of Acuity Brands in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $219.00.
In other Acuity Brands news, Director Peter C. Browning sold 970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.05, for a total transaction of $194,048.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $200,050. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Mark A. Black sold 5,427 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.29, for a total value of $1,114,108.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Acuity Brands Company Profile
Acuity Brands, Inc is a provider of lighting solutions for commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure and residential applications throughout North America and other international markets. The Company operates through North American segment. The Company offers a portfolio of indoor and outdoor lighting and building management solutions for commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure and residential applications.
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