Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) Shares Gap Up - What's Next?

Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $38.61, but opened at $41.15. Sezzle shares last traded at $39.15, with a volume of 195,374 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SEZL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $62.83 price objective (up from $62.00) on shares of Sezzle in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on Sezzle from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

Sezzle Price Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 8.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 2.40.

Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $271.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.90 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sezzle Inc. will post 9.77 EPS for the current year.

Sezzle announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Sezzle

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SEZL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sezzle by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 169,614 shares of the company's stock worth $43,387,000 after acquiring an additional 3,853 shares in the last quarter. G2 Investment Partners Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sezzle by 275.9% in the fourth quarter. G2 Investment Partners Management LLC now owns 102,192 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,141,000 after acquiring an additional 75,007 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Sezzle by 792.3% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 79,983 shares of the company's stock worth $20,460,000 after acquiring an additional 71,019 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Sezzle by 3.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,362 shares of the company's stock worth $8,421,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Sezzle by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 27,398 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,008,000 after purchasing an additional 17,351 shares during the last quarter. 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.