Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) Short Interest Down 19.7% in February

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) saw a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 13,884,173 shares, a drop of 19.7% from the February 12th total of 17,289,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,145,298 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 5,145,298 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MQ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Marqeta in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Marqeta from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Marqeta from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marqeta in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $5.14.

Marqeta Price Performance

Shares of Marqeta stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $3.97. The company had a trading volume of 2,906,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,946,115. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $4.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.79. Marqeta has a fifty-two week low of $3.47 and a fifty-two week high of $7.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of -132.33 and a beta of 1.48.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.01. Marqeta had a negative net margin of 2.23% and a negative return on equity of 1.62%. The business had revenue of $172.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.05) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Marqeta will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Marqeta

In related news, Director Judson C. Linville purchased 25,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $3.93 per share, for a total transaction of $100,490.10. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 104,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $409,584.60. This represents a 32.51% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jason M. Gardner sold 69,043 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $345,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 293,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,466,670. The trade was a 19.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 218,509 shares of company stock worth $1,092,545 over the last ninety days. 12.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marqeta

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MQ. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Marqeta in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. EFG International AG bought a new stake in shares of Marqeta during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in Marqeta by 82.2% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,821 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in Marqeta in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Amundi bought a new stake in Marqeta in the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

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.