Marathon Digital Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:MARA)

Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 346,284 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 49% compared to the typical volume of 232,737 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Marathon Digital

In related news, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,788,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,962,597.72. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.18, for a total transaction of $146,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 343,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,150,254.70. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 114,515 shares of company stock valued at $1,029,678 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MARA. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Marathon Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,220,000. Tobam increased its position in Marathon Digital by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 58,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,045 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC raised its stake in Marathon Digital by 208,433.3% during the fourth quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 18,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 18,759 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 1,693,604 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,209,000 after purchasing an additional 703,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Digital by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 45,045 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 10,194 shares during the last quarter. 44.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Marathon Digital Price Performance

MARA stock opened at $8.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.20 and a beta of 5.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Marathon Digital has a 52-week low of $6.66 and a 52-week high of $23.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.31.

Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The business services provider reported ($4.52) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $202.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.74 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Marathon Digital will post -1.04 EPS for the current year.

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.