Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) Stock Price Up 1.9% – Still a Buy?

Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) shot up 1.9% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $14.11 and last traded at $13.81. 39,911,772 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 46,446,102 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on shares of Marathon Digital from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered Marathon Digital from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Marathon Digital in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Marathon Digital from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Marathon Digital from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.38.

Marathon Digital Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.41 and a beta of 5.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.48.

Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The business services provider reported ($4.52) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($4.29). Marathon Digital had a negative return on equity of 23.20% and a negative net margin of 234.83%.The firm had revenue of $202.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. will post -1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.18, for a total transaction of $252,495.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,000 shares of Marathon Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.68, for a total value of $186,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 441,066 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,650.88. This trade represents a 3.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 180,855 shares of company stock worth $2,033,654. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Marathon Digital

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Digital by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,706,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $419,422,000 after buying an additional 1,394,559 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Marathon Digital by 1.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,455,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $210,977,000 after acquiring an additional 191,380 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Marathon Digital by 104.1% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 12,098,686 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $220,922,000 after acquiring an additional 6,172,110 shares in the last quarter. Marex Group plc raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Marex Group plc now owns 10,137,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $91,037,000 after acquiring an additional 259,210 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,957,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $89,434,000 after acquiring an additional 251,674 shares during the period. 44.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.