ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACIW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of ACI Worldwide from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of ACI Worldwide in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of ACI Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on ACI Worldwide from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.50.

ACI Worldwide Trading Up 1.6 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.47. 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 firm 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 issued its 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 company had revenue of $373.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.95 million. ACI Worldwide had a net margin of 12.01% and a return on equity of 19.18%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ACI Worldwide, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

ACI Worldwide announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, June 13th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of ACI Worldwide by 123.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,130 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in ACI Worldwide by 49.3% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,306 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in ACI Worldwide by 638.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in ACI Worldwide in the third quarter worth approximately $114,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of ACI Worldwide during the 2nd quarter worth $154,000. 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.