Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $230.11, but opened at $235.21. Sezzle shares last traded at $240.79, with a volume of 12,351 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SEZL. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $377.00 price target (up from $372.00) on shares of Sezzle in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Northland Securities lifted their price target on shares of Sezzle from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Sezzle Trading Up 2.3 %

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $257.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $254.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 2.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27 and a beta of 9.05.

Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $4.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $1.31. Sezzle had a net margin of 25.29% and a return on equity of 101.18%. The business had revenue of $271.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.90 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sezzle Inc. will post 9.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sezzle announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sezzle

In other Sezzle news, CFO Karen Hartje sold 3,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.32, for a total transaction of $1,093,518.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 35,121 shares in the company, valued at $11,109,474.72. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 57.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sezzle

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SEZL. G2 Investment Partners Management LLC increased its stake in Sezzle by 275.9% during the fourth quarter. G2 Investment Partners Management LLC now owns 102,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,141,000 after purchasing an additional 75,007 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Sezzle by 792.3% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 79,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,460,000 after acquiring an additional 71,019 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Sezzle by 912.8% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 21,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,397,000 after acquiring an additional 19,014 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Sezzle by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 27,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,008,000 after acquiring an additional 17,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of Sezzle by 816.9% during the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 15,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,018,000 after acquiring an additional 13,994 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 2.02% of the company’s stock.

Sezzle Company Profile

Sezzle Inc operates as a technology-enabled payments company primarily in the United States and Canada. The company provides payment solution in-store and at online retail stores; and through proprietary payments solution that connects consumers with merchants. It also offers Sezzle Platform that provides a payments solution for consumers that extends credit at the point-of-sale allowing consumers to purchase and receive the ordered merchandise at the time of sale while paying in installments over time; Pay-in-Four, which allows consumers to pay a fourth of the purchase price up front and then another fourth of the purchase price every two weeks thereafter over a total of six weeks; Pay-in-Full that allows consumers to pay for the full value of their order up-front through the Sezzle Platform without the extension of credit; and Pay-in-Two and other alternative installment options, which allow consumer to pay half of the value of their order up-front and the second half in two weeks.