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

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 3,285 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 62% compared to the average volume of 2,028 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MQ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Marqeta from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $7.00 to $5.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Marqeta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $9.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Marqeta from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, William Blair cut Marqeta from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marqeta presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $6.27.

Marqeta Price Performance

Marqeta stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $3.93. The stock had a trading volume of 9,547,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,303,864. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $4.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.20. Marqeta has a one year low of $3.37 and a one year high of $7.36. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 196.50 and a beta of 1.73.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Marqeta by 3.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,435,778 shares of the company's stock worth $282,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642,621 shares during the last quarter. Visa Foundation purchased a new position in Marqeta during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $68,197,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its stake in Marqeta by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 8,333,453 shares of the company's stock worth $41,001,000 after acquiring an additional 319,661 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Marqeta by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,438,277 shares of the company's stock worth $40,759,000 after acquiring an additional 389,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Marqeta by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 7,420,663 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,510,000 after acquiring an additional 1,767,845 shares during the last quarter. 78.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marqeta Company Profile

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.