Traders Buy High Volume of MARA Call Options (NASDAQ:MARA)

MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 487,019 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 49% compared to the typical volume of 327,875 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MARA. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of MARA in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $34.00 target price for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on MARA in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. B. Riley lifted their target price on MARA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of MARA in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised MARA from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $12.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MARA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.67.

Insider Transactions at MARA

In other MARA news, CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.50, for a total value of $392,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,836,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,149,031.50. This represents a 0.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Frederick G. Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.80, for a total value of $544,599.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,155,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,280,781. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 109,410 shares of company stock worth $2,485,329 over the last three months. 0.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MARA

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in MARA by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 15,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 2,712 shares during the last quarter. Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of MARA by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,987 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,766 shares during the last quarter. Sara Bay Financial raised its holdings in MARA by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Sara Bay Financial now owns 122,655 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,121,000 after buying an additional 6,141 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in MARA in the fourth quarter worth $231,000. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC purchased a new position in MARA during the fourth quarter worth $397,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.53% of the company’s stock.

MARA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MARA opened at $19.91 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.12. 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 has a 12-month low of $13.16 and a 12-month high of $34.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.20 and a beta of 5.76.

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The business services provider reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.05) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that MARA will post -1.09 EPS for the current fiscal 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.