Zacks Research Upgrades Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) to Strong-Buy

Key Points

• Priority Technology has been upgraded from a "hold" to a "strong-buy" rating by Zacks Research, reflecting increased analyst confidence in the stock.
• Shares of Priority Technology opened at $8.43 and have a 12-month high of $12.47 with a consensus price target of $13.00.
• Insiders at Priority Technology have seen notable trading activity, with General Counsel Bradley J. Miller selling 100,000 shares, indicating potential shifts in insider confidence.

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Thursday, August 21st,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on PRTH. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Priority Technology in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Priority Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Priority Technology from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Priority Technology has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $13.00.

Priority Technology Stock Performance

Shares of PRTH stock traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $8.50. The company had a trading volume of 239,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 583,195. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.64 and a 200-day moving average of $7.93. The company has a market capitalization of $679.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.69 and a beta of 1.51. Priority Technology has a 12-month low of $5.01 and a 12-month high of $12.47.

Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $239.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.63 million. Priority Technology had a negative return on equity of 47.35% and a net margin of 4.03%. Priority Technology has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Priority Technology will post -0.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Priority Technology news, General Counsel Bradley J. Miller sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.55, for a total transaction of $855,000.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 243,620 shares in the company, valued at $2,082,951. This represents a 29.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 66.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in Priority Technology by 312.1% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 115,942 shares of the company's stock worth $902,000 after purchasing an additional 87,806 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its position in shares of Priority Technology by 34.4% during the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 45,208 shares of the company's stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 11,582 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the second quarter worth $463,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the second quarter worth $223,000. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Priority Technology by 41.1% during the second quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 126,263 shares of the company's stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 36,793 shares during the period. 11.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Priority Technology

Priority Technology Holdings, Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB) Payments, Business-To-Business (B2B) Payments, and Enterprise Payments. It offers SMB payments processing solutions for B2C transactions through independent sales organizations, financial institutions, independent software vendors, and other referral partners through its MX product suite, which includes MX Connect and MX Merchant products, such as MX Insights, MX Storefront, MX Retail, MX Invoice, MX B2B and ACH.com, and others, which provides flexible and customizable set of business applications that helps to manage critical business work functions and revenue performance to resellers and merchant clients using core payment processing.