Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 844,084 Shares of Sezzle Inc. $SEZL

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

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sezzle by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,320 shares of the company's stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Sezzle by 94.7% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 407 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Sezzle by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,002 shares of the company's stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in shares of Sezzle in the fourth quarter valued at about $136,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Sezzle by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,377 shares of the company's stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. 2.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sezzle

In other Sezzle news, CFO Karen Hartje sold 5,484 shares of Sezzle 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,312,664.92. The trade was a 4.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Amin Sabzivand sold 6,028 shares of Sezzle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.23, for a total value 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. The trade was a 2.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 68,696 shares of company stock valued at $10,476,922. 49.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sezzle Stock Performance

Shares of SEZL stock traded down $1.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $94.60. The stock had a trading volume of 1,182,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,352,795. The company has a quick ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 3.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $132.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.65. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of 32.42 and a beta of 9.04. Sezzle Inc. has a one year low of $20.74 and a one year 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $60.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.33 million. Sezzle had a return on equity of 102.90% and a net margin of 28.13%. On average, analysts forecast that Sezzle Inc. will post 9.77 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SEZL. B. Riley raised their price target on Sezzle from $101.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Sezzle from $168.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Sezzle from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $124.33.

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.