Sezzle Inc. $SEZL Shares Acquired by Vanguard Group Inc.

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Sezzle Inc. by 497.6% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 844,084 shares to own 1,013,698 shares valued at approximately $35.37 million.
• Insider trading activity has seen significant sales, with Director Paul Paradis selling 3,000 shares and CFO Karen Hartje selling 5,484 shares, indicating a decrease in their ownership stakes.
• Analysts have varied price targets for Sezzle, with Oppenheimer raising it from $168.00 to $202.00, while Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, leading to a consensus rating of "Buy" with an average target price of $124.33.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL - Free Report) by 497.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,013,698 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 844,084 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 2.98% of Sezzle worth $35,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC lifted its position in Sezzle by 49,400.0% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 990 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 988 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Sezzle by 465.6% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,578 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 1,299 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Sezzle by 1,852.5% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,382 shares of the company's stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 2,260 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Sezzle by 94.7% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its holdings in Sezzle by 500.0% during the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 3,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 2.02% of the company's stock.

Sezzle Stock Performance

Shares of SEZL stock traded down $1.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $94.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,182,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,342,059. The company has a 50 day moving average of $133.14 and a 200 day moving average of $89.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of 32.42 and a beta of 9.09. The company has a current ratio of 3.51, a quick ratio of 3.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Sezzle Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.74 and a 12-month high of $186.74.

Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $93.33 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sezzle Inc. will post 9.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paul Paradis sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.62, for a total transaction of $274,860.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 242,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,172,040. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Amin Sabzivand sold 6,028 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.23, for a total transaction of $989,978.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 243,303 shares in the company, valued at $39,957,651.69. This trade represents a 2.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 68,696 shares of company stock valued at $10,476,922. Corporate insiders own 49.49% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.