Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) Stock Price Up 9.6% - Time to Buy?

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)'s share price traded up 9.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $7.58 and last traded at $7.71. 221,010 shares changed 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

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Priority Technology in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Priority Technology from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Priority Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.00.

Priority Technology Stock Down 1.7%

The stock has a market capitalization of $608.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.31 and a beta of 1.51. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $7.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.03.

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

Insider Transactions at Priority Technology

In other Priority Technology news, Director Marietta Davis sold 9,433 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.22, for a total value of $68,106.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,136 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $542,481.92. The trade was a 11.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Bradley J. Miller sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 243,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,082,951. This 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 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 raised its stake in shares of Priority Technology by 200.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,883,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the first quarter worth approximately $2,809,000. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,524,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the first quarter worth approximately $2,292,000. 11.52% of the stock is owned by 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.