MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $11.64, but opened at $12.12. MARA shares last traded at $12.3950, with a volume of 8,595,627 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MARA. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on shares of MARA in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “market outperform” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on MARA from $16.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of MARA in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MARA from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, HC Wainwright initiated coverage on MARA in a research report on Friday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MARA presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.70.

MARA Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $11.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.45. The firm has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.37 and a beta of 5.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported ($1.60) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($1.77). MARA had a negative net margin of 429.71% and a negative return on equity of 26.05%. The business had revenue of $174.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.44 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that MARA Holdings will post -1.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MARA

In other news, Director Douglas Mellinger sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total value of $112,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 231,618 shares in the company, valued at $3,705,888. This trade represents a 2.93% 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, General Counsel Zabi Nowaid sold 8,376 shares of MARA stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total value of $100,512.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 898,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,785,360. This represents a 0.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 58,881 shares of company stock valued at $613,193. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MARA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,492,000. Delta Global Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of MARA in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,064,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in shares of MARA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,220,000. Compass Rose Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of MARA in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,243,000. Finally, Compass Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MARA in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,000,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.53% of the company’s stock.

About MARA

MARA Holdings, Inc, formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc, is a digital asset technology company focused primarily on mining bitcoin. The company operates and supports computing infrastructure designed to secure the Bitcoin network by processing transactions and earning bitcoin rewards.

MARA develops and deploys large-scale data center and energy infrastructure for digital asset mining. Its activities include operating mining facilities, managing specialized application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mining equipment, and pursuing energy and infrastructure solutions intended to support more efficient and scalable computing operations.