Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,880,000 shares, a growth of 38.4% from the May 15th total of 12,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 4.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marqeta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Marqeta by 7.5% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 686,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,830,000 after purchasing an additional 47,965 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Marqeta in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $698,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marqeta by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 288,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 52,219 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marqeta by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 925,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,813,000 after acquiring an additional 65,313 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Marqeta by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 279,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after acquiring an additional 9,319 shares in the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Marqeta Stock Performance

NASDAQ MQ opened at $5.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a PE ratio of 55.10 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $4.70 and a 200-day moving average of $4.18. Marqeta has a 52-week low of $3.37 and a 52-week high of $6.00.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $139.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.66 million. Marqeta had a return on equity of 5.11% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.07) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Marqeta will post 0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MQ. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Marqeta from $4.50 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Marqeta from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $5.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Marqeta from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $4.75 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marqeta presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.18.

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.