MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) Stock Price Up 1.2% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• MARA shares rose 1.2% to $8.33, but remain below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $10.99 and $11.79, respectively.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: the stock has an average “Hold” rating and a $19.10 price target, with ratings ranging from “Buy” to “Sell.”
• The company reported a significant quarterly loss of $1.60 per share and revenue below estimates, while revenue declined 26.7% year over year; insiders have also sold more than $1.1 million of stock in the past 90 days.

Shares of MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA - Get Free Report) rose 1.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $8.36 and last traded at $8.33. 41,321,469 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 45,601,191 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.23.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MARA. HC Wainwright started coverage on shares of MARA in a research note on Friday, September 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on shares of MARA in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a "market outperform" rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $11.00 price target (down from $13.00) on shares of MARA in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of MARA from $16.00 to $13.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MARA from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.10.

MARA Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.91 and a beta of 5.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.79. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported ($1.60) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($1.77). MARA had a negative net margin of 429.71% and a negative return on equity of 26.05%. The company had revenue of $174.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that MARA Holdings will post -1.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MARA news, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.22, for a total value of $308,606.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,217,586 shares in the company, valued at $47,321,314.92. This represents a 0.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 on Monday, August 17th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,472,777.86. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 106,891 shares of company stock worth $1,124,731 in the last 90 days. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MARA

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in MARA by 1,154.9% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,422 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 2,229 shares in the last quarter. Ascentis Independent Advisors bought a new stake in MARA during the first quarter worth about $28,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in MARA by 128.0% during the second quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 3,651 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 2,050 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in MARA by 58.2% during the third quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 4,009 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 1,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of MARA by 4,345.1% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 4,045 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 3,954 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 44.53% of the company's stock.

MARA Company Profile

MARA Holdings, Inc NASDAQ: MARA, formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings, is a digital asset technology company focused primarily on mining bitcoin. The company operates specialized data centers containing application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) computers that process transactions and secure the Bitcoin network in exchange for bitcoin rewards.

In addition to bitcoin mining, MARA develops and operates digital asset computing infrastructure. Its activities include managing energy and data-center resources, deploying mining hardware, and pursuing technologies designed to improve the efficiency and scalability of digital asset mining.

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.