Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ)

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 8,064 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 134% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,450 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marqeta

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marqeta during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Marqeta by 1,255.4% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 10,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 9,290 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Marqeta by 125.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 10,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 49,243 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Marqeta during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Marqeta during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. 78.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marqeta Stock Up 18.7 %

MQ stock traded up $0.66 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $4.17. The company had a trading volume of 10,287,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,718,355. The company has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 209.25 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $3.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.40. Marqeta has a 12-month low of $3.37 and a 12-month high of $7.36.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.05. Marqeta had a net margin of 2.86% and a return on equity of 1.20%. The firm had revenue of $135.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.71 million. As a group, analysts expect that Marqeta will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $5.00) on shares of Marqeta in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $5.00 to $4.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Marqeta from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Marqeta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Marqeta from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marqeta currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.65.

Marqeta Company Profile

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.