Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Time to Buy?

Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTH) saw an uptick in trading volume on Wednesday . 98,963 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 103% from the previous session’s volume of 48,675 shares.The stock last traded at $6.54 and had previously closed at $6.35.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on PRTH. B. Riley upped their price objective on Priority Technology from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Priority Technology from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th.

Priority Technology Stock Down 2.9 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $5.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $483.26 million, a PE ratio of -9.82 and a beta of 0.98.

Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $219.87 million for the quarter. Priority Technology had a net margin of 0.74% and a negative return on equity of 9.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Sean Kiewiet sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.02, for a total transaction of $50,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,101,853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,531,302.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Thomas Charles Priore sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.08, for a total value of $81,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 34,301,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $174,252,168.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sean Kiewiet sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.02, for a total value of $50,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,101,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,531,302.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 64,498 shares of company stock valued at $367,044. Insiders own 76.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Priority Technology

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Priority Technology by 25.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 762,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,494,000 after acquiring an additional 156,044 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. bought a new position in Priority Technology in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $301,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Priority Technology during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $164,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the second quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Priority Technology in the first quarter worth $91,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.52% of the company’s stock.

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.