Stephens Upgrades ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) to “Overweight”

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) was upgraded by research analysts at Stephens from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $60.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Stephens’ price target suggests a potential upside of 32.33% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. DA Davidson upgraded shares of ACI Worldwide from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on ACI Worldwide from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised ACI Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ACI Worldwide currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

ACI Worldwide Stock Performance

ACIW stock opened at $45.34 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day moving average of $46.22 and a 200-day moving average of $50.48. ACI Worldwide has a 12-month low of $40.94 and a 12-month high of $59.71.

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.18. ACI Worldwide had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 16.12%. The business had revenue of $394.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $364.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ACI Worldwide will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other ACI Worldwide news, Director Janet O. Estep sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.66, for a total transaction of $200,970.00. Following the sale, the director owned 77,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,467,000.46. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Thomas W. Warsop III purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $48.57 per share, with a total value of $242,850.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 326,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,878,601.54. This trade represents a 1.55% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ACI Worldwide

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACIW. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in ACI Worldwide in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ACI Worldwide in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of ACI Worldwide by 239.4% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of ACI Worldwide in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in ACI Worldwide during the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 94.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.