In late morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is fighting hard to stay in positive territory. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.1% to 6,692.5 points.
Four shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are charging higher:
Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)
The Afterpay share price is up almost 8% to $118.75. Investors have been buying tech shares again on Thursday after a solid night of trade on the tech-focused Nasdaq index. It isn't just Afterpay recording a solid gain. At the time of writing, the S&P ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) is up a sizeable 2.5%. In addition, analysts at Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Afterpay's shares to $136.00 this morning. They have an overweight rating on them.
Australian Ethical Investment Limited (ASX: AEF)
The Australian Ethical share price is up 3.5% to $5.72. This follows the release of the ethical fund manager's second quarter update this morning. According to the release, Australian Ethical increased its funds under management (FUM) to $5.05 billion by the end of December. This was up 16.9% from $4.32 billion at the end of September.
Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME)
The Pro Medicus share price has surged almost 11% higher to $35.16. Investors have been buying the leading health imaging software company's shares after it announced another major new contract win. Pro Medicus has signed a seven-year contract worth $40 million with Salt Lake City based Intermountain Healthcare. The deal will see its Visage 7 Viewer and Visage 7 Open Archive products implemented across all of Intermountain's radiology and subspecialty imaging departments.
Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL)
The Sezzle share price is up over 7.5% to $7.00. This appears to be a delayed reaction to the buy now pay later provider's fourth quarter update this week. According to the release, Sezzle reported a whopping 195.6% year-over-year increase in merchant fees to US$17.2 million during the fourth quarter.
