Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) Trading 4.6% Higher – Still a Buy?

Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA)’s share price shot up 4.6% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $8.20 and last traded at $8.16. 46,728,562 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 2% from the average session volume of 47,695,688 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MARA. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Marathon Digital from $21.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Marathon Digital in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Marathon Digital from $26.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Marathon Digital in a research report on Monday, February 9th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Marathon Digital from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.00.

Marathon Digital Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.34. The firm has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.20 and a beta of 5.28.

Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 19.01% and a negative net margin of 144.58%.The business had revenue of $202.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. Marathon Digital’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. will post -1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Digital

In other Marathon Digital news, CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.18, for a total transaction of $146,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 343,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,150,254.70. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.18, for a total transaction of $252,495.90. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 114,515 shares of company stock worth $1,029,678. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MARA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $419,422,000 after buying an additional 1,394,559 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 1.4% during the 2nd 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 during the period. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Marathon Digital by 104.1% in the 3rd 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 position in shares of Marathon Digital by 2.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Marathon Digital by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,957,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $89,434,000 after purchasing an additional 251,674 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.53% of the company’s stock.

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.