Marqeta Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:MQ)

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 6,003 put options on the company. This is an increase of 692% compared to the average daily volume of 758 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on MQ shares. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Marqeta from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Marqeta from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $9.00 price target on shares of Marqeta in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Marqeta from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $7.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marqeta presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.11.

Marqeta Stock Performance

Marqeta stock opened at $5.03 on Thursday. Marqeta has a fifty-two week low of $4.40 and a fifty-two week high of $7.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.53. The stock has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.97 and a beta of 1.78.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.04. Marqeta had a positive return on equity of 0.51% and a negative net margin of 2.62%. The firm had revenue of $125.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.07) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 45.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Marqeta will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Marqeta

In other Marqeta news, Director Martha Cummings sold 40,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.47, for a total value of $220,118.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $103,930. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 12.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Marqeta by 61.2% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 72,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 27,691 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its position in Marqeta by 35.0% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 278,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,527,000 after buying an additional 72,316 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Marqeta by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 252,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after buying an additional 5,515 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Marqeta during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $526,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Marqeta by 62.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 30,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 11,821 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

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.