MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) Shares Climb 3.7% – Should You Buy?

MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA)’s stock price shot up 3.7% on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $7.37 and last traded at $7.35. Approximately 40,640,879 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average daily volume of 45,156,219 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MARA from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of MARA in a report on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down from $13.00) on shares of MARA in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price target on shares of MARA and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of MARA from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $13.00 to $11.00 in a report on Monday, September 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MARA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.78.

MARA Stock Up 3.7%

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.80 and a beta of 5.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported ($1.60) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($1.77). MARA had a negative return on equity of 26.05% and a negative net margin of 429.71%. The business had revenue of $174.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.44 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MARA Holdings will post -1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MARA

In other news, General Counsel Zabi Nowaid sold 8,376 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total value of $100,512.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 898,780 shares in the company, valued at $10,785,360. This trade represents a 0.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.22, for a total transaction of $308,606.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,217,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,321,314.92. This represents a 0.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 106,891 shares of company stock worth $1,124,731 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CI Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MARA by 7.6% in the first quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 13,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 957 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in MARA by 9.9% during the second quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 11,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 1,076 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in MARA by 58.2% during the 3rd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 4,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,475 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp increased its stake in MARA by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 13,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,485 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in MARA by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,598 shares during the period. 44.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MARA Company Profile

MARA Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: MARA), formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings, is a digital asset mining and energy infrastructure company. Its primary business is securing the Bitcoin network by operating specialized computing equipment that validates transactions and earns Bitcoin rewards.

The company develops and operates data centers and digital asset computing infrastructure, while also pursuing strategies to access low-cost and surplus energy. MARA has expanded its operations through a combination of owned facilities, hosting arrangements and acquisitions, with activities spanning North America and other international markets.

The company was founded in 2010 as Marathon Patent Group and later shifted its focus toward cryptocurrency mining before adopting the Marathon Digital name.