Short Interest in Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) Declines By 46.4%

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 8,819,489 shares, a decrease of 46.4% from the June 15th total of 16,441,600 shares. Approximately 9.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 5,021,391 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Marqeta news, Director Elaine Paul sold 4,537 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.20, for a total value of $68,962.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,900 shares in the company, valued at $135,280. This represents a 33.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CRO Todd Pollak sold 18,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.88, for a total transaction of $316,500.00. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 185,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,122,935.04. The trade was a 9.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 27,650 shares of company stock valued at $463,473 over the last ninety days. 12.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marqeta

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Marqeta during the third quarter worth about $26,000. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in Marqeta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in Marqeta by 82.2% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 2,821 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marqeta in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in shares of Marqeta in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Marqeta Price Performance

Shares of MQ traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $17.89. 1,204,854 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,029,754. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of 447.36 and a beta of 1.31. Marqeta has a 52-week low of $14.80 and a 52-week high of $28.16.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. Marqeta had a net margin of 0.33% and a return on equity of 0.27%. The firm had revenue of $165.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.08) EPS. Marqeta’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Marqeta will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MQ. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Marqeta from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Marqeta from $4.50 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marqeta in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $20.12.

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.