Marqeta Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:MQ)

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 6,605 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 178% compared to the average daily volume of 2,379 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marqeta

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Marqeta in the second quarter valued at about $61,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Marqeta in the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Marqeta in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $59,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Marqeta in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC bought a new position in Marqeta during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Marqeta Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MQ opened at $3.84 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $3.98 and a 200-day moving average of $4.78. Marqeta has a twelve month low of $3.37 and a twelve month high of $7.36. The firm has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a PE ratio of 192.00 and a beta of 1.52.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.01). Marqeta had a net margin of 2.86% and a return on equity of 1.20%. The company had revenue of $127.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.07) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Marqeta will post 0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MQ shares. Susquehanna reduced 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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 note on Monday. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $5.00) on shares of Marqeta in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of Marqeta from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $7.50 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Marqeta from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.82.

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.