Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) Shares Up 3.4% – Still a Buy?

Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) shares traded up 3.4% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $14.87 and last traded at $14.28. 42,506,834 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 8% from the average session volume of 46,409,188 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.81.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MARA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Digital from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Marathon Digital from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Digital from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Marathon Digital from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Marathon Digital in a report on Friday, February 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.38.

Marathon Digital Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $5.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.50 and a beta of 5.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $10.73 and its 200-day moving average is $10.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

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 firm had revenue of $202.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.74 million. Marathon Digital had a negative net margin of 234.83% and a negative return on equity of 23.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. will post -1.67 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $43,962,597.72. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Zabi Nowaid sold 42,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total transaction of $505,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 1,007,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,084,564. This trade represents a 4.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 180,855 shares of company stock worth $2,033,654 over the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 9.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,311,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $827,392,000 after buying an additional 4,049,979 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Marathon Digital during the third quarter worth $4,643,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Marathon Digital by 338.3% during the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 3,660,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $66,832,000 after purchasing an additional 2,825,000 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Marathon Digital by 446.6% during the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 319,549 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,835,000 after purchasing an additional 261,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in Marathon Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $10,201,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.