Marathon Digital Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:MARA)

Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 346,284 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 49% compared to the typical daily volume of 232,737 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $43,962,597.72. The trade was a 0.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,000 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 value of $146,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 114,515 shares of company stock valued at $1,029,678. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Marathon Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its holdings in Marathon Digital by 2,407.4% during the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 1,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Marathon Digital by 56.8% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,819 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the period. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new position in Marathon Digital during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Digital by 344.8% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,022 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 3,893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in Marathon Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. 44.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Marathon Digital Stock Up 7.1%

NASDAQ:MARA traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $8.61. 36,160,717 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 47,226,707. The firm has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.18 and a beta of 5.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Marathon Digital has a fifty-two week low of $6.66 and a fifty-two week high of $23.45.

Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) last released 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). Marathon Digital had a negative net margin of 144.58% and a negative return on equity of 19.01%. The firm had revenue of $202.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. Marathon Digital’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Marathon Digital will post -1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

About Marathon Digital

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.