Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) Trading Up 9.6% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. shares increased by 9.6%, trading at $7.71 after closing at $7.04, with a significant drop in trading volume compared to the average.
• Wall Street analysts have upgraded the stock's rating from "hold" to "buy," with an average price target of $13.00 based on five "buy" ratings.
• Insider trading activity included significant sales by both a director and the general counsel, indicating a 29.10% reduction in the general counsel's ownership stake.

Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTH - Get Free Report) shares traded up 9.6% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $7.58 and last traded at $7.71. 221,010 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 583,064 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PRTH shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Priority Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. 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. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Priority Technology in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $13.00.

Priority Technology Stock Up 6.9%

The company has a market capitalization of $601.40 million, a P/E ratio of 28.94 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $7.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.06.

Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $239.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $239.63 million. Priority Technology had a net margin of 4.03% and a negative return on equity of 47.35%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. will post -0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Marietta Davis sold 9,433 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.22, for a total transaction of $68,106.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 75,136 shares of the company's stock, valued at $542,481.92. This trade represents a 11.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Bradley J. Miller sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.55, for a total value of $855,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 243,620 shares in the company, valued at $2,082,951. This trade represents a 29.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Priority Technology

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PRTH. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Priority Technology by 200.6% in the first quarter. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,400,000 shares of the company's stock worth $16,356,000 after buying an additional 1,601,491 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Priority Technology by 66.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 594,095 shares of the company's stock worth $4,618,000 after acquiring an additional 236,622 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Priority Technology by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 536,349 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,173,000 after acquiring an additional 87,127 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. bought a new position in Priority Technology in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,883,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Priority Technology during the 1st quarter valued at $2,809,000. 11.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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