Marqeta Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:MQ)

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 8,064 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 134% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,450 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marqeta

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in Marqeta by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,055,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,194,000 after purchasing an additional 336,349 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Marqeta by 107.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 248,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,225,000 after buying an additional 128,717 shares during the last quarter. Olympiad Research LP acquired a new stake in Marqeta during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Marqeta by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 37,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 9,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in shares of Marqeta by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 370,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,821,000 after acquiring an additional 23,729 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MQ. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Marqeta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $9.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Marqeta from $9.00 to $7.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of Marqeta from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $7.50 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Marqeta from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.69.

Marqeta Stock Performance

Shares of MQ opened at $4.25 on Friday. Marqeta has a fifty-two week low of $3.37 and a fifty-two week high of $7.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $3.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 212.50 and a beta of 1.52.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.71 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Marqeta will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

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.