MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $18.30, but opened at $19.23. MARA shares last traded at $19.74, with a volume of 11,923,690 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MARA has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of MARA in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of MARA in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $34.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of MARA in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of MARA in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of MARA from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.80.

MARA Stock Up 12.7 %

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $21.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.15. The firm has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.09 and a beta of 5.76. The company has a current ratio of 4.00, a quick ratio of 4.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The business services provider reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by ($0.04). MARA had a net margin of 27.48% and a negative return on equity of 8.40%. The company had revenue of $131.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.05) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 34.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MARA Holdings, Inc. will post -1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MARA

In other news, Director Jay P. Leupp sold 11,200 shares of MARA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.06, for a total value of $303,072.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 142,556 shares in the company, valued at $3,857,565.36. This trade represents a 7.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of MARA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.80, for a total transaction of $544,599.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,155,595 shares in the company, valued at $82,280,781. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 109,410 shares of company stock valued at $2,485,329. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MARA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of MARA by 27.7% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 226,199 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,669,000 after purchasing an additional 49,062 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in MARA by 8.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,656,363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,086,000 after buying an additional 217,106 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MARA by 112.4% during the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 203,975 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,308,000 after buying an additional 107,963 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in MARA during the third quarter worth $640,000. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in MARA during the third quarter worth $1,557,000. 44.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MARA

MARA Holdings, Inc operates as a digital asset technology company that mines digital assets with a focus on the bitcoin ecosystem in United States. The company was formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc and changed its name to MARA Holdings, Inc in August 2024. MARA Holdings, Inc was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.