Short Interest in Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTH) Decreases By 13.6%

Key Points

• Short interest in Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) fell 13.6% in March to 1,748,485 shares, about 6.3% of the float with a short-interest ratio of 4.5 days.
• Several institutions increased positions—Steamboat Capital (+13.5% to 1.576M shares), Vanguard (+13.9% to 1.488M), and Wells Fargo (up to 711,136 shares after a large purchase)—and institutional/hedge fund ownership totals 11.52%.
• PRTH reported Q results with EPS $0.27 (missed estimate of $0.29) and near‑term revenue in line, the stock trades around $4.70 (market cap ~$386.8M), and analysts' consensus is a Hold with an average price target of $8.75 amid recent downgrades and price‑target cuts.

Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTH - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,748,485 shares, a drop of 13.6% from the February 26th total of 2,024,211 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 388,299 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days. Approximately 6.3% of the company's stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Priority Technology by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,576,734 shares of the company's stock worth $8,593,000 after purchasing an additional 187,893 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Priority Technology by 13.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,487,948 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,222,000 after purchasing an additional 181,795 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in Priority Technology by 1,912.7% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 711,136 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,876,000 after purchasing an additional 675,803 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Priority Technology by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 660,518 shares of the company's stock worth $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 53,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norwood Investment Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,433,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.52% of the company's stock.

Priority Technology Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of PRTH opened at $4.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $386.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.81 and a beta of 1.39. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $5.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.97. Priority Technology has a twelve month low of $4.44 and a twelve month high of $8.89.

Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.02). Priority Technology had a negative return on equity of 66.50% and a net margin of 5.84%.The firm had revenue of $247.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $247.92 million. On average, analysts predict that Priority Technology will post -0.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PRTH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Priority Technology in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research cut Priority Technology from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Priority Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Priority Technology from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their price objective on Priority Technology from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Priority Technology has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $8.75.

About Priority Technology

Priority Technology Acquisition Corp is a special purpose acquisition company formed to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization or similar business combination with one or more businesses in the technology sector. As a blank-check company, it does not conduct any operations of its own and holds the proceeds from its initial public offering in a trust account pending the identification and completion of a business combination.

The company’s management team is focused on evaluating target businesses that offer scalable technology products or services, including software, digital platforms and related infrastructure.

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