Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) Shares Up 8% - Still a Buy?

Shares of Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTH - Get Free Report) rose 8% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $8.32 and last traded at $8.47. Approximately 107,236 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 335,700 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PRTH has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen upgraded Priority Technology to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Priority Technology from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th.

Priority Technology Stock Up 4.3%

The company has a market cap of $651.88 million, a P/E ratio of -74.31 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $7.52 and a 200-day moving average of $8.74.

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

Insider Transactions at Priority Technology

In other Priority Technology news, Director Marietta Davis sold 9,433 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 75,136 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $542,481.92. This trade represents a 11.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Bradley J. Miller sold 100,000 shares of Priority Technology 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 243,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,082,951. The trade was a 29.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Priority Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PRTH. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Priority Technology by 200.6% during the first quarter. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,400,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,356,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601,491 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new position in Priority Technology in the 4th quarter worth about $4,883,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Priority Technology in the 1st quarter worth about $2,809,000. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Priority Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,524,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.52% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.