ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on ACIW. Stephens raised shares of ACI Worldwide from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of ACI Worldwide from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of ACI Worldwide from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th.

ACI Worldwide Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of ACIW opened at $44.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.54. ACI Worldwide has a 1-year low of $40.45 and a 1-year high of $59.71. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.80 and a beta of 1.07.

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.08. ACI Worldwide had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The business had revenue of $401.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $380.45 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that ACI Worldwide will post 2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Thomas W. Warsop III acquired 5,000 shares of the 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 purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 326,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,878,601.54. This represents a 1.55% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 directly owned 77,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,467,000.46. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ACI Worldwide

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in shares of ACI Worldwide by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 26,932 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after buying an additional 1,831 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey lifted its holdings in shares of ACI Worldwide by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 23,810 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,093,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of ACI Worldwide by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH now owns 5,160 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of ACI Worldwide during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,665,000. Finally, Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of ACI Worldwide during the 2nd quarter valued at $944,000. 94.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.