Insiders At Marqeta Sold US$758k In Stock, Alluding To Potential Weakness

Over the past year, many Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ) insiders sold a significant stake in the company which may have piqued investors' interest. When analyzing insider transactions, it is usually more valuable to know whether insiders are buying versus knowing if they are selling, as the latter sends an ambiguous message. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for Marqeta

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Marqeta

The Chief Technology Officer, Randall Kern, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$538k worth of shares at a price of US$5.82 each. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of US$5.39. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

In the last year Marqeta insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Marqeta Insiders Are Selling The Stock

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Marqeta. In total, Independent Director Martha Cummings dumped US$220k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.

Does Marqeta Boast High Insider Ownership?

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Marqeta insiders own 11% of the company, currently worth about US$292m based on the recent share price. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Do The Marqeta Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold Marqeta shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. The company boasts high insider ownership, but we're a little hesitant, given the history of share sales. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Marqeta. At Simply Wall St, we've found that Marqeta has 2 warning signs (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that deserve your attention before going any further with your analysis.

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For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.