Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Mizuho downgraded the stock from an outperform rating to a neutral rating. The stock had previously closed at $4.85, but opened at $4.45. Mizuho now has a $4.50 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $8.00. Marqeta shares last traded at $4.6350, with a volume of 2,260,680 shares.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Citigroup upgraded Marqeta to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Marqeta from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $5.75 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Marqeta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Marqeta from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $5.33.

Insider Transactions at Marqeta

In other news, Director Jason M. Gardner sold 69,043 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total transaction of $345,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 293,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,466,670. This represents a 19.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 218,509 shares of company stock valued at $1,092,545. Insiders own 12.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marqeta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Marqeta in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,463,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Marqeta by 51.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,798,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,295,000 after buying an additional 4,029,486 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Marqeta by 694.3% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,338,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,349,000 after buying an additional 2,044,290 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Marqeta by 1,224.5% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,897,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,754,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Marqeta by 181.2% during the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,470,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,043,000 after acquiring an additional 1,591,801 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Marqeta Stock Down 1.7%

The firm has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of -59.13 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $4.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.35.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The business had revenue of $163.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.37 million. Marqeta had a negative return on equity of 4.22% and a negative net margin of 6.74%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.06) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Marqeta, Inc. will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Marqeta

Marqeta is a modern card issuing and payment processing platform that enables businesses to design, launch and manage customized payment cards. The company offers a fully programmable open API that allows clients to create virtual, physical and tokenized payment cards with real-time transaction controls and dynamic spend limits. By leveraging Marqeta’s infrastructure, companies can streamline their payment operations, reduce time to market and deliver tailored payment experiences to end consumers.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Oakland, California, Marqeta was established by CEO Jason Gardner with the goal of transforming traditional card issuance through cloud-native technology.