Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,588 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Sezzle worth $918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SEZL. Covestor Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Sezzle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Sezzle in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sezzle in the fourth quarter worth $84,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Sezzle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $188,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sezzle by 129.2% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 1,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. 2.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sezzle Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SEZL opened at $225.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.02 and a beta of 9.05. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $264.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $248.06. Sezzle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.39 and a fifty-two week high of $477.52. 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 (NASDAQ:SEZL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $4.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $1.31. Sezzle had a net margin of 25.29% and a return on equity of 101.18%. The company had revenue of $271.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.90 million. Equities analysts expect that Sezzle Inc. will post 9.77 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SEZL has been the subject of several analyst reports. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $377.00 target price (up previously from $372.00) on shares of Sezzle in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Northland Securities boosted their target price on shares of Sezzle from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Karen Hartje sold 3,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.32, for a total value of $1,093,518.24. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 35,121 shares in the company, valued at $11,109,474.72. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 57.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.