Oppenheimer Initiates Coverage on Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL)

Analysts at Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $168.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective points to a potential upside of 25.81% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on SEZL. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $62.83 price target (up previously from $62.00) on shares of Sezzle in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Sezzle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $96.94.

Sezzle Stock Performance

Sezzle stock opened at $133.54 on Thursday. Sezzle has a twelve month low of $11.67 and a twelve month high of $141.83. The company has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 9.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.22 and its 200 day moving average is $56.56. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54.

Sezzle declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Sezzle

In other news, CFO Karen Hartje sold 311,196 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.83, for a total value of $22,353,208.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 154,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,080,926.78. The trade was a 66.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Amin Sabzivand sold 1,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.67, for a total value of $209,944.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 244,074 shares in the company, valued at $30,428,705.58. This represents a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 443,080 shares of company stock worth $34,247,838. 49.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sezzle

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SEZL. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Sezzle by 649.1% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 19,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 16,590 shares during the period. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Sezzle in the first quarter valued at $84,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sezzle by 719.1% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 173,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,040,000 after acquiring an additional 152,152 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sezzle by 1,068.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 169,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,913,000 after acquiring an additional 154,978 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sezzle by 321.7% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 115,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,031,000 after acquiring an additional 88,127 shares during the period. 2.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.