Investors Buy Large Volume of MARA Call Options (NASDAQ:MARA)

MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 310,828 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 50% compared to the typical volume of 207,040 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MARA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective (down from $13.00) on shares of MARA in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of MARA in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on MARA from $16.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Citizens Jmp started coverage on MARA in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “market outperform” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of MARA from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MARA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at MARA

In other news, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,217,586 shares in the company, valued at $47,321,314.92. The trade was a 0.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Salman Khan sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $147,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 377,066 shares in the company, valued at $3,472,777.86. This trade represents a 4.07% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 106,891 shares of company stock valued at $1,124,731 in the last 90 days. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MARA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ascentis Independent Advisors bought a new stake in MARA during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of MARA by 4,345.1% during the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 4,045 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 3,954 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in MARA by 1,154.9% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,422 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 2,229 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MARA by 128.0% in the second quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 3,651 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050 shares in the last quarter. 44.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MARA Trading Up 1.2%

MARA traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $8.33. The stock had a trading volume of 41,476,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 45,602,391. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.91 and a beta of 5.33. MARA has a 52 week low of $6.66 and a 52 week high of $23.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89.

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) last released its 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). The business had revenue of $174.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.44 million. MARA had a negative return on equity of 26.05% and a negative net margin of 429.71%. MARA’s revenue was down 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MARA will post -1.65 EPS for the current year.

MARA Company Profile

MARA Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: MARA), formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings, is a digital asset technology company focused primarily on mining bitcoin. The company operates specialized data centers containing application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) computers that process transactions and secure the Bitcoin network in exchange for bitcoin rewards.

In addition to bitcoin mining, MARA develops and operates digital asset computing infrastructure. Its activities include managing energy and data-center resources, deploying mining hardware, and pursuing technologies designed to improve the efficiency and scalability of digital asset mining.