Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,444 Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL)

Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in Sezzle Inc. (NASDAQ:SEZL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Sezzle in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sezzle in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sezzle in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sezzle during the fourth quarter worth about $84,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Sezzle in the fourth quarter worth about $128,000. 2.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $62.83 target price (up previously from $62.00) on shares of Sezzle in a report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Sezzle Stock Up 4.8 %

SEZL stock opened at $44.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 8.73. Sezzle Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.73 and a 1-year high of $79.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 2.40.

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

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

Sezzle 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.