Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 233,525 Shares of ACI Worldwide, Inc. $ACIW

Key Points

• Vanguard trimmed its stake in ACI Worldwide by 1.7% in Q4, selling 233,525 shares and now holds 13,407,325 shares (13.01% of the company) valued at about $641.0 million.
• Several large institutions materially shifted positions—Franklin Resources raised its stake 79.6% to 9,659,385 shares and Millennium Management increased its holding 879.8% to 1,430,404 shares—leaving institutional investors owning 94.73% of the stock.
• ACI missed EPS at $0.90 vs. $1.05 expected but beat revenue estimates ($481.6M vs. $465.2M); analysts have an average "Hold" rating with a $60 consensus target and the company has a ~$4.45B market cap.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in ACI Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIW - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,407,325 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 233,525 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 13.01% of ACI Worldwide worth $641,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ACI Worldwide by 79.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,659,385 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $509,726,000 after acquiring an additional 4,280,684 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of ACI Worldwide by 4.8% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,336,124 shares of the technology company's stock worth $123,277,000 after acquiring an additional 107,993 shares during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia grew its stake in shares of ACI Worldwide by 91.0% in the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,732,941 shares of the technology company's stock worth $91,448,000 after acquiring an additional 825,671 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of ACI Worldwide by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,677,338 shares of the technology company's stock worth $77,004,000 after acquiring an additional 105,975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ACI Worldwide by 879.8% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,430,404 shares of the technology company's stock worth $75,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,284,419 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Juan Benitez II bought 2,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $41.90 per share, for a total transaction of $100,560.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 16,881 shares in the company, valued at $707,313.90. This trade represents a 16.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Adalio T. Sanchez bought 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $40.98 per share, with a total value of $122,940.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 64,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,638,210.44. This trade represents a 4.89% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

ACI Worldwide Stock Performance

NASDAQ ACIW opened at $43.86 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.21 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.54. ACI Worldwide, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.05 and a 1-year high of $55.45.

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $481.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $465.20 million. ACI Worldwide had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 16.44%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that ACI Worldwide, Inc. will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings cut ACI Worldwide from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research downgraded ACI Worldwide from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.00.

About ACI Worldwide

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.

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