Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) Short Interest Up 38.4% in May

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,880,000 shares, a growth of 38.4% from the May 15th total of 12,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 4.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Marqeta from $4.75 to $5.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Marqeta from $4.50 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Marqeta from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on Marqeta from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Marqeta from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $5.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.18.

Marqeta Stock Performance

MQ opened at $5.57 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.16. Marqeta has a twelve month low of $3.37 and a twelve month high of $6.00. The firm has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 278.50 and a beta of 1.53.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $139.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $135.66 million. Marqeta had a net margin of 2.86% and a return on equity of 1.20%. The company’s revenue was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.07) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Marqeta will post 0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marqeta

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Marqeta by 126.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,097,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,928,070 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Marqeta by 3.3% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,860,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,824,000 after purchasing an additional 631,132 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Marqeta by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,031,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,819,000 after purchasing an additional 318,184 shares in the last quarter. RPD Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Marqeta during the fourth quarter worth about $37,289,000. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Marqeta by 99.7% during the fourth quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 7,786,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,513,000 after buying an additional 3,886,999 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

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.