Short Interest in Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL) Expands By 413.6%

Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,280,000 shares, a growth of 413.6% from the March 15th total of 443,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 951,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 15.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other Sezzle news, CFO Karen Hartje sold 20,742 shares of Sezzle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.72, for a total transaction of $1,093,518.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 210,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,109,474.72. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 57.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sezzle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Sezzle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sezzle in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Sezzle by 3,575.0% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 147 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Sezzle during the fourth quarter worth $80,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sezzle in the 4th quarter valued at about $84,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 2.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Sezzle from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $62.83 price objective (up from $62.00) on shares of Sezzle in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Sezzle Stock Up 3.4 %

Sezzle stock traded up $1.36 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $40.79. The stock had a trading volume of 214,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 936,899. Sezzle has a 1-year low of $6.73 and a 1-year high of $79.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 2.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 8.73.

Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $271.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.90 million. Sezzle had a net margin of 25.29% and a return on equity of 101.18%. As a group, analysts expect that Sezzle will post 9.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sezzle declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.