Marqeta Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:MQ)

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 6,605 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 178% compared to the typical volume of 2,379 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marqeta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in Marqeta by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 44,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 3,548 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in Marqeta by 0.7% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 488,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,402,000 after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Marqeta by 9.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 60,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 5,481 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Marqeta by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 252,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 5,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Marqeta by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 116,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $637,000 after purchasing an additional 7,097 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Marqeta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $9.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Mizuho lowered their target price on Marqeta from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $4.00 price target (down from $5.00) on shares of Marqeta in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Marqeta from $9.00 to $7.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.97.

Marqeta Price Performance

NASDAQ MQ opened at $3.86 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $4.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.79. Marqeta has a 12 month low of $3.37 and a 12 month high of $7.36. The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 193.00 and a beta of 1.52.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $127.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.05 million. Marqeta had a net margin of 2.86% and a return on equity of 1.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.07) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Marqeta will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

About Marqeta

Marqeta, Inc operates a cloud-based open application programming interface platform that delivers card issuing and transaction processing services. It offers its solutions in various verticals, including financial services, on-demand services, expense management, and e-commerce enablement, as well as buy now, pay later.