Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) Reaches New 52-Week High - Time to Buy?

Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $186.74 and last traded at $179.50, with a volume of 125588 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $181.50.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SEZL shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Sezzle from $168.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Sezzle from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $108.28.

Sezzle Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.35 and a beta of 9.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $117.46 and a 200-day moving average of $68.22.

Sezzle declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Paul Paradis sold 50,000 shares of Sezzle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.53, for a total value of $4,526,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 528,382 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,834,422.46. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Karen Hartje sold 311,196 shares of Sezzle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.83, for a total value of $22,353,208.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 154,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,080,926.78. This trade represents a 66.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 489,608 shares of company stock valued at $41,660,224 in the last three months. Insiders own 49.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Sezzle by 497.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,013,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,368,000 after buying an additional 844,084 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its position in Sezzle by 497.8% in the 1st quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 327,276 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,419,000 after buying an additional 272,530 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Sezzle by 719.1% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 173,310 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,040,000 after buying an additional 152,152 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Sezzle by 1,068.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 169,487 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,913,000 after buying an additional 154,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Sezzle by 429.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 132,361 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,618,000 after buying an additional 107,340 shares in the last quarter. 2.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Sezzle

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.