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

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Marqeta news, CRO Todd Pollak sold 18,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.88, for a total transaction of $316,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 185,008 shares in the company, valued at $3,122,935.04. This represents a 9.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Elaine Paul sold 4,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.20, for a total transaction of $68,962.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,280. The trade was a 33.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,650 shares of company stock valued at $463,473. 12.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marqeta

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lifted its holdings in Marqeta by 1,078.8% in the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 1,405,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,421,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286,258 shares during the period. Abbington Investment Group acquired a new stake in Marqeta during the fourth quarter valued at $1,939,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Marqeta by 603.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,095,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,205,000 after acquiring an additional 940,022 shares during the period. Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Marqeta during the 4th quarter worth about $1,257,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Marqeta by 271.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,335,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,050,000 after purchasing an additional 975,861 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Marqeta Stock Performance

Marqeta stock opened at $16.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 403.35 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.62. Marqeta has a one year low of $14.80 and a one year high of $28.16.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $164.30 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. Marqeta’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Marqeta will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on MQ shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Marqeta from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marqeta in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Marqeta from $4.50 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $20.12.

Marqeta Company Profile

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.