ACI Worldwide, Inc. $ACIW Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in ACI Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIW) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 597,765 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,522 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.59% of ACI Worldwide worth $24,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in ACI Worldwide by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,096 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of ACI Worldwide by 93.5% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 532 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of ACI Worldwide by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in ACI Worldwide by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 20,107 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $961,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in ACI Worldwide by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 23,559 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,126,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. 94.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of ACI Worldwide from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of ACI Worldwide from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered ACI Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded ACI Worldwide from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.00.

ACI Worldwide Stock Performance

Shares of ACIW opened at $56.87 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.09. The firm has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a PE ratio of 28.58 and a beta of 0.98. ACI Worldwide, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.05 and a 12-month high of $60.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $425.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $410.08 million. ACI Worldwide had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.51%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that ACI Worldwide, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

ACI Worldwide Company Profile

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) is a global software company that provides electronic payment and banking solutions to financial institutions, merchants and billers. The company’s platforms enable real-time processing of credit, debit, ACH, bill payments, faster payments and money transfers, as well as integrated fraud prevention services. Headquartered in Naples, Florida, ACI serves clients across banking, payments and commerce sectors worldwide.

ACI’s modular suite of applications can be deployed on-premise, in the cloud or in hybrid environments to meet diverse operational needs.