Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) Shares Down 4% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTH) experienced a 4% decline in shares, trading between $6.81 and $6.90, with a notable increase in volume to 666,454 shares.
• Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods have lowered the target price for Priority Technology from $12.00 to $10.00, while maintaining an "outperform" rating.
• The company reported earnings per share of $0.22, surpassing estimates, but revenue of $224.63 million fell short of the $228.81 million prediction.

Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTH - Get Free Report) shares fell 4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $6.81 and last traded at $6.90. 666,454 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 36% from the average session volume of 490,858 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Priority Technology from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th.

Priority Technology Price Performance

The company's 50-day moving average price is $7.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.20. The company has a market cap of $545.49 million, a P/E ratio of -62.18 and a beta of 1.44.

Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $224.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $228.81 million. Priority Technology had a net margin of 3.01% and a negative return on equity of 38.73%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. will post -0.09 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Marietta Davis sold 9,433 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.22, for a total value of $68,106.26. Following the sale, the director owned 75,136 shares in the company, valued at $542,481.92. This represents a 11.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Bradley J. Miller sold 100,000 shares of Priority Technology stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 243,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,082,951. This represents a 29.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Priority Technology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PRTH. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Priority Technology by 200.6% during the 1st quarter. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,400,000 shares of the company's stock worth $16,356,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601,491 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the 4th quarter worth $4,883,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Priority Technology during the first quarter valued at about $2,809,000. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Priority Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,524,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Priority Technology by 825.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 357,473 shares of the company's stock worth $2,431,000 after acquiring an additional 318,839 shares in the last quarter. 11.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Priority Technology Company Profile

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.