Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTH) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 402,900 shares, an increase of 44.4% from the February 28th total of 279,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 671,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.6 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on PRTH shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (down from $14.00) on shares of Priority Technology in a report on Friday, March 7th. TD Cowen upgraded Priority Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th.

Priority Technology Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PRTH traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $6.82. 1,010,980 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 252,888. The firm has a market capitalization of $542.32 million, a PE ratio of -16.24 and a beta of 0.99. Priority Technology has a one year low of $2.82 and a one year high of $12.47. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.54.

Insider Activity at Priority Technology

In other news, Director John Vito Priore sold 3,454,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.44, for a total transaction of $25,702,038.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,314,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,539,359.20. This trade represents a 39.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Ranjana Ram sold 6,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.44, for a total transaction of $49,215.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 686,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,106,734.16. This trade represents a 0.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,122,431 shares of company stock valued at $38,110,887. 76.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Priority Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the 4th quarter worth $684,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new position in Priority Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $327,000. Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Priority Technology during the 4th quarter worth $882,000. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Priority Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $9,382,000. Finally, Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Priority Technology in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $183,000. Institutional investors 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.