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

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) 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 trading hands.

MQ has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marqeta in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut shares of Marqeta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $5.00 target price on Marqeta and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Citigroup upgraded Marqeta to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Marqeta from $5.75 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $5.33.

Insider Activity at Marqeta

In other Marqeta news, Director Jason M. Gardner sold 69,043 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $345,215.00. Following the sale, the director owned 293,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,466,670. The trade was a 19.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 218,509 shares of company stock worth $1,092,545 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marqeta

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MQ. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Marqeta during the third quarter worth about $26,000. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Marqeta during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Marqeta by 61.8% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 3,737 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Marqeta during the first quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in Marqeta during the third quarter worth $60,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Marqeta Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -59.13 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4.81 and its 200-day moving average is $5.35.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $163.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.37 million. Marqeta had a negative net margin of 6.74% and a negative return on equity of 4.22%. Marqeta’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.06) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Marqeta, Inc. will post 0.06 EPS 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.