BNP Paribas Financial Markets Increases Holdings in ACI Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIW)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of ACI Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIW - Free Report) by 194.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 240,978 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 159,185 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.23% of ACI Worldwide worth $12,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in ACI Worldwide in the fourth quarter worth $75,868,000. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in ACI Worldwide in the fourth quarter worth $55,998,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in ACI Worldwide by 206.2% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,005,479 shares of the technology company's stock worth $52,194,000 after purchasing an additional 677,143 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in ACI Worldwide by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,449 shares of the technology company's stock worth $154,095,000 after purchasing an additional 459,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in ACI Worldwide by 160.4% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 674,799 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,027,000 after purchasing an additional 415,612 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.74% of the company's stock.

ACI Worldwide Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of ACIW traded up $0.05 on Wednesday, reaching $49.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,090,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 720,128. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.16. ACI Worldwide, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.32 and a 12-month high of $59.71.

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $394.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $364.36 million. ACI Worldwide had a return on equity of 21.67% and a net margin of 14.04%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that ACI Worldwide, Inc. will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ACIW. StockNews.com raised ACI Worldwide from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of ACI Worldwide from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.00.

Insider Activity at ACI Worldwide

In other ACI Worldwide news, CEO Thomas W. Warsop III bought 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $48.57 per share, with a total value of $242,850.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 326,922 shares in the company, valued at $15,878,601.54. This represents a 1.55% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles E. Peters, Jr. sold 12,940 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.57, for a total value of $744,955.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 80,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,654,073.94. This represents a 13.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.