Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) Shares Up 5.7% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) shot up 5.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $13.50 and last traded at $13.15. 51,058,254 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 9% from the average session volume of 46,631,281 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MARA. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Marathon Digital in a report on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Marathon Digital from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Marathon Digital from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered Marathon Digital from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised 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. Seven 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.38.

Marathon Digital Stock Up 1.9%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $10.52 and a 200-day moving average of $10.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.41 and a beta of 5.41.

Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The business services provider reported ($4.52) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($4.29). The business had revenue of $202.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.74 million. Marathon Digital had a negative return on equity of 23.20% and a negative net margin of 234.83%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. will post -1.67 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,000 shares of Marathon Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.68, for a total value of $186,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 441,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,650.88. This trade represents a 3.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 Marathon Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.18, for a total value 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. The trade was a 0.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 180,855 shares of company stock worth $2,033,654. 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 made changes to their positions in MARA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Marathon Digital by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,706,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $419,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394,559 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 191,380 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 6,172,110 shares during the last quarter. Marex Group plc lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 259,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 251,674 shares during the last quarter. 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.