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

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 6,605 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 178% compared to the typical volume of 2,379 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Marqeta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Marqeta from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Marqeta from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Marqeta from $4.50 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $5.00) on shares of Marqeta in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.97.

Institutional Trading of Marqeta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Marqeta by 31.3% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 7,420,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,767,845 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Marqeta by 263.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,320,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,499,000 after acquiring an additional 956,992 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Marqeta by 226.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 861,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,238,000 after acquiring an additional 597,539 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Marqeta by 107.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 851,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,265,000 after purchasing an additional 441,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Marqeta by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,438,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,759,000 after purchasing an additional 389,045 shares during the period. 78.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Marqeta Price Performance

Shares of MQ stock traded up $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $3.93. The company had a trading volume of 1,530,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,458,936. Marqeta has a one year low of $3.37 and a one year high of $7.36. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 196.50 and a beta of 1.52.

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

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.