Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) Cut to “Neutral” at Mizuho

Mizuho lowered shares of Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $4.50 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $8.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marqeta in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Marqeta from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Marqeta from $5.75 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $5.00 price target on shares of Marqeta and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Marqeta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $5.33.

Marqeta Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of MQ opened at $4.73 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $4.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.35. Marqeta has a twelve month low of $3.47 and a twelve month high of $7.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of -59.13 and a beta of 1.48.

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

Insider Activity at Marqeta

In other news, Director Jason M. Gardner sold 69,043 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total transaction of $345,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 293,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,466,670. This trade represents a 19.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 218,509 shares of company stock valued at $1,092,545 in the last quarter. 12.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marqeta

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

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.