Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL) saw a large growth in short interest during 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. Currently, 15.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 951,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Sezzle from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $62.83 price objective (up previously from $62.00) on shares of Sezzle in a report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Sezzle Stock Performance

NASDAQ SEZL traded down $0.81 on Wednesday, hitting $41.65. 162,908 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 730,651. Sezzle has a 1-year low of $6.73 and a 1-year high of $79.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 8.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.04.

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

Sezzle announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sezzle

In other news, CFO Karen Hartje sold 20,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,109,474.72. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 57.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sezzle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Sezzle by 191.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,474,000 after buying an additional 13,383 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Sezzle by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,378 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Sezzle by 295.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 2,974 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Sezzle by 125.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $771,000 after acquiring an additional 2,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sezzle in the third quarter worth approximately $276,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 2.02% of the company’s stock.

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.