Jason Gardner Sells 69,043 Shares of Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) Stock

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) Director Jason Gardner sold 69,043 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 293,334 shares in the company, valued at $1,466,670. This trade represents a 19.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Marqeta Trading Up 2.0%

MQ stock opened at $5.07 on Friday. Marqeta, Inc. has a one year low of $3.47 and a one year high of $7.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $4.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of -63.38 and a beta of 1.48.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). Marqeta had a negative net margin of 6.74% and a negative return on equity of 4.22%. The business had revenue of $163.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.06) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Marqeta, Inc. will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP bought a new position in Marqeta during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marqeta in the first quarter valued at $42,000. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired a new stake in Marqeta during the third quarter worth $55,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Marqeta by 61.8% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 3,737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Marqeta during the 1st quarter worth about $57,000. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered Marqeta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Marqeta from $6.50 to $6.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Citigroup upgraded Marqeta to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on Marqeta from $5.75 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marqeta in a report on Monday, December 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $5.50.

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.