ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

ACI Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIW)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $52.10 and last traded at $51.98, with a volume of 163159 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $50.85.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACIW. StockNews.com lowered ACI Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of ACI Worldwide in a report on Friday, August 2nd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of ACI Worldwide from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on ACI Worldwide from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ACI Worldwide currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.50.

ACI Worldwide Stock Up 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $48.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.47. The company has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a PE ratio of 38.56 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $373.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.95 million. ACI Worldwide had a net margin of 12.01% and a return on equity of 19.18%. On average, analysts predict that ACI Worldwide, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

ACI Worldwide announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, June 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of ACI Worldwide

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in ACI Worldwide by 123.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,130 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in ACI Worldwide by 49.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,306 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in ACI Worldwide by 638.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,322 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 1,143 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in ACI Worldwide during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $114,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of ACI Worldwide during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $154,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.74% of the company’s stock.

About ACI Worldwide

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.