Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA)

Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 377,087 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 58% compared to the typical volume of 238,987 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MARA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut Marathon Digital from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Marathon Digital from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. HC Wainwright reissued 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 price target on the stock. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Marathon Digital from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Marathon Digital presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 4,788,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,962,597.72. This trade 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.68, for a total value of $186,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 441,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,650.88. This trade represents a 3.50% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 172,605 shares of company stock valued at $1,745,843 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Digital

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Digital by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 12,098,686 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $220,922,000 after buying an additional 6,172,110 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Marathon Digital during the third quarter worth about $93,066,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Marathon Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,492,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 4,049,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $68,090,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.53% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Digital Trading Down 6.4%

Marathon Digital stock traded down $0.85 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $12.44. 39,806,869 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 45,748,960. Marathon Digital has a 52 week low of $6.66 and a 52 week high of $23.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of -2.17 and a beta of 5.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.70.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($4.29). The business had revenue of $202.31 million during 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%. Marathon Digital’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 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Marathon Digital will post -1.67 EPS for the current fiscal 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.