MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) Shares Down 4% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• MARA shares fell 4% to $11.50 in heavy trading, with volume about 14% above its daily average. The stock’s beta of 5.32 indicates substantial volatility.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: eight analysts rate MARA a Buy, one rates it Hold and three rate it Sell. The consensus rating is Hold, with an average price target of $18.70, though several firms recently lowered their targets.
• MARA reported a significant quarterly miss, posting a $1.60 loss per share versus expectations for $0.17 EPS, while revenue fell 26.7% year over year to $174.88 million. The company also reported a negative net margin of 429.71%, and insiders have sold 109,386 shares over the past 90 days.

MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA - Get Free Report)'s stock price was down 4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $10.96 and last traded at $11.50. 52,728,261 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 14% from the average daily volume of 46,176,547 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.98.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MARA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of MARA in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on MARA in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a "market outperform" rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $11.00 target price (down from $13.00) on shares of MARA in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on MARA from $16.00 to $13.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on MARA from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $18.70.

MARA Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.26 and a beta of 5.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.37.

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported ($1.60) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($1.77). The business had revenue of $174.88 million during 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%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 26.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MARA Holdings will post -1.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Douglas Mellinger sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total transaction of $112,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 231,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,705,888. This represents a 2.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $147,360.00. Following 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 109,386 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,889. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of MARA

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in MARA by 1,266.3% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,629,700 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $78,197,000 after buying an additional 5,217,648 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in MARA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,492,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of MARA by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,954,764 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,534,000 after acquiring an additional 19,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MARA by 2.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,838,149 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $14,999,000 after acquiring an additional 35,978 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.53% of the company's stock.

About MARA

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.