Traders Purchase Large Volume of MARA Call Options (NASDAQ:MARA)

MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 559,284 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 111% compared to the typical daily volume of 265,035 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MARA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MARA from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of MARA in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of MARA in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of MARA in a report on Thursday, October 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of MARA from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.57.

Insider Activity

In other MARA news, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,512 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.70, for a total transaction of $431,938.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,278,309 shares in the company, valued at $67,169,451.30. This represents a 0.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.80, for a total transaction of $330,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 2,029,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,187,010.60. This trade represents a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,622 shares of company stock worth $2,399,805 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MARA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of MARA by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,915,042 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $540,002,000 after acquiring an additional 441,455 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of MARA by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 22,359 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $505,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the period. American International Group Inc. grew its position in shares of MARA by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 110,489 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,495,000 after acquiring an additional 4,593 shares during the period. Natixis bought a new position in shares of MARA in the 1st quarter valued at about $177,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MARA in the 1st quarter valued at about $249,000. 44.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MARA Price Performance

Shares of MARA stock opened at $22.63 on Thursday. MARA has a 52-week low of $9.88 and a 52-week high of $34.09. The stock has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a PE ratio of 28.65 and a beta of 5.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 4.00 and a current ratio of 4.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $17.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.67.

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The business services provider reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.04). MARA had a negative return on equity of 8.40% and a net margin of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $131.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.05) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MARA will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

MARA Company Profile

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.