Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) Stock Price Up 11.8% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) shot up 11.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $12.27 and last traded at $11.99. 81,490,524 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 73% from the average session volume of 47,001,746 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.72.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MARA. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Digital from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Marathon Digital in a research report on Monday, February 9th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Marathon Digital in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Marathon Digital from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Marathon Digital from $26.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Marathon Digital presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.00.

Marathon Digital Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.03 and a beta of 5.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $9.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.24.

Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The business services provider reported ($4.52) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($4.29). The firm had revenue of $202.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.74 million. Marathon Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.01% and a negative net margin of 144.58%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Marathon Digital news, CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.68, for a total transaction of $186,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 441,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,650.88. This represents a 3.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.18, for a total transaction of $252,495.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,788,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,962,597.72. This trade represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 172,605 shares of company stock valued at $1,745,843. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,706,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $419,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394,559 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,455,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $210,977,000 after purchasing an additional 191,380 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 12,098,686 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $220,922,000 after purchasing an additional 6,172,110 shares during the last quarter. Marex Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Marex Group plc now owns 10,137,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $91,037,000 after purchasing an additional 259,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,957,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $89,434,000 after purchasing an additional 251,674 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 44.53% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Digital Company Profile

Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc is a digital asset technology company specializing in the mining and acquisition of bitcoin. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, the firm employs high-performance application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners and proprietary software to secure the Bitcoin network and expand its crypto-mining footprint. Marathon Digital focuses on operational efficiency and scalability, while maintaining rigorous standards for regulatory compliance and corporate governance.

The company operates multiple large-scale mining facilities throughout North America, including sites in Texas, Montana and New York.