Swiss National Bank Grows Position in Sezzle Inc. $SEZL

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Sezzle Inc. by 489.1%, holding 32,400 shares valued at approximately $1.13 million after acquiring an additional 26,900 shares.
• Recent insider activity includes Paul Paradis, a director, selling 3,000 shares for about $274,860, while CFO Karen Hartje sold 5,484 shares for approximately $921,421.
• After receiving upgrades from several analysts, Sezzle currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" with a price target of $124.33.

Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL - Free Report) by 489.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,400 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 26,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.10% of Sezzle worth $1,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Sezzle by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,320 shares of the company's stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Sezzle by 94.7% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 407 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Sezzle by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,002 shares of the company's stock valued at $512,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in Sezzle during the 4th quarter valued at about $136,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Sezzle by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,377 shares of the company's stock valued at $608,000 after buying an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 2.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on SEZL. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Sezzle from $101.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Sezzle from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Sezzle from $168.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Sezzle currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $124.33.

Insider Activity at Sezzle

In other Sezzle news, Director Paul Paradis sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.03, for a total transaction of $546,090.00. Following the sale, the director owned 260,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,327,800. The trade was a 1.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Karen Hartje sold 5,484 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.02, for a total transaction of $921,421.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 126,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,312,664.92. This represents a 4.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,696 shares of company stock valued at $10,476,922 in the last three months. 49.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sezzle Stock Down 1.3%

NASDAQ SEZL traded down $1.21 during trading on Friday, reaching $94.60. 1,182,509 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,352,795. Sezzle Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.74 and a 12-month high of $186.74. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.42 and a beta of 9.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 3.51 and a quick ratio of 3.51. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $133.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.38.

Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.11. Sezzle had a net margin of 28.13% and a return on equity of 102.90%. The business had revenue of $60.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.33 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sezzle Inc. will post 9.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sezzle 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.