ACI Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIW) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of ACI Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIW) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $47.50.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACIW shares. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on ACI Worldwide from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of ACI Worldwide from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of ACI Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of ACI Worldwide in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ACI Worldwide

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in ACI Worldwide by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,263,249 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,655,000 after acquiring an additional 29,673 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of ACI Worldwide by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,220,072 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $129,134,000 after purchasing an additional 57,538 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of ACI Worldwide by 39.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 601,632 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,410,000 after purchasing an additional 171,258 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in ACI Worldwide during the fourth quarter worth $600,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in ACI Worldwide in the fourth quarter valued at $37,509,000. 94.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ACI Worldwide Price Performance

Shares of ACIW stock opened at $48.53 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $45.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32. ACI Worldwide has a 52-week low of $19.56 and a 52-week high of $50.52. The stock has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of 36.22 and a beta of 1.19.

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $373.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.95 million. ACI Worldwide had a return on equity of 19.18% and a net margin of 12.01%. As a group, analysts forecast that ACI Worldwide will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

ACI Worldwide declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, June 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

ACI Worldwide Company Profile

ACI Worldwide, Inc, a software company, develops, markets, installs, and supports a range of software products and solutions for facilitating digital payments in the United States and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Banks, Merchants, and Billers. The company offers ACI Acquiring, a solution to process credit, debit, and prepaid card transactions, deliver digital innovation, and fraud prevention; ACI Issuing, a digital payment issuing solution for new payment offering; and ACI Enterprise Payments Platform that provides payment processing and orchestration capabilities for digital payments.