MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) Shares Up 13.7% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA) shot up 13.7% on Friday . The company traded as high as $13.32 and last traded at $13.24. Approximately 83,682,288 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 80% from the average session volume of 46,539,484 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.64.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MARA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on MARA from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MARA from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of MARA in a report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $11.00 target price (up from $6.00) on shares of MARA in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of MARA from $16.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MARA has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.20.

MARA Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $11.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.45. The stock has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.45 and a beta of 5.32. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported ($1.60) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($1.77). The business had revenue of $174.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.44 million. MARA had a negative return on equity of 26.05% and a negative net margin of 429.71%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that MARA Holdings will post -1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MARA

In other news, General Counsel Zabi Nowaid sold 8,376 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total transaction of $100,512.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 898,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,785,360. The trade was a 0.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction of $253,321.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,335,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,931,769.37. This represents a 0.63% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 58,881 shares of company stock valued at $613,193 in the last 90 days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MARA

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MARA by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,957,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $89,434,000 after purchasing an additional 251,674 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MARA in the fourth quarter valued at $39,492,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in MARA by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,954,764 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,534,000 after purchasing an additional 19,048 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in MARA by 2.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,838,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,999,000 after purchasing an additional 35,978 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in MARA by 11.5% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 634,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,099,000 after buying an additional 65,220 shares in the last quarter. 44.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MARA Company Profile

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.