Zacks Research Downgrades Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) to Strong Sell

Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PRTH. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Priority Technology from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Priority Technology from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Priority Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Priority Technology in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, TD Securities cut their price target on Priority Technology from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.75.

Priority Technology Stock Down 4.0%

Shares of PRTH opened at $5.00 on Wednesday. Priority Technology has a 52-week low of $4.44 and a 52-week high of $8.89. The stock has a market cap of $409.35 million, a PE ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $5.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.26.

Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) 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). The business had revenue of $247.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $247.92 million. Priority Technology had a net margin of 5.84% and a negative return on equity of 66.50%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Priority Technology will post -0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Priority Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PRTH. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Priority Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Priority Technology by 57.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 1,863 shares during the period. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Priority Technology during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $46,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Priority Technology in the second quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. purchased a new position in Priority Technology in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. 11.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.