MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $11.87, but opened at $11.53. MARA shares last traded at $11.37, with a volume of 5,508,418 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MARA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded MARA from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Citizens Jmp initiated coverage on shares of MARA in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “market outperform” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MARA from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of MARA in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of MARA from $16.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MARA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.78.

MARA Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.10. The company has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a PE ratio of -1.19 and a beta of 5.40.

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 26.05% and a negative net margin of 429.71%.The firm had revenue of $174.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $209.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. MARA’s quarterly revenue was down 26.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that MARA Holdings will post -1.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MARA

In related news, CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total value of $147,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.21, for a total transaction of $253,321.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 4,335,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,931,769.37. The trade was a 0.63% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 109,386 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,889. Insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MARA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MARA. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in MARA by 315.5% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 166,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 126,482 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of MARA by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 427,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,841,000 after buying an additional 95,970 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MARA by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,706,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $419,422,000 after buying an additional 1,394,559 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB purchased a new position in shares of MARA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $831,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of MARA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,220,000. 44.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About MARA

MARA Holdings, Inc is an energy and digital infrastructure company whose core business is Bitcoin mining. Headquartered in Hallandale Beach, Florida, the company operates large-scale computing infrastructure designed to convert energy into high-value compute workloads.