Fri Nov 22 20:17:47 UTC 2024: ## MARA Holdings Stock Dips Despite Analyst Optimism

**Fort Lauderdale, FL – November 17, 2024** – MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA), a digital asset mining company, saw its stock price fall 2.4% on Friday, closing at $23.61. Trading volume was significantly lower than average, at 23,206,234 shares, representing a 58% decrease. This follows a mixed bag of analyst reports this week.

While Macquarie raised its target price to $29 and issued an “outperform” rating, Compass Point downgraded MARA from “buy” to “neutral,” albeit raising its price target to $25. Other firms offered a range of opinions, including Needham & Company’s “hold” rating and Cantor Fitzgerald’s “overweight” rating with a $21 price target. Currently, the average analyst rating for MARA is “hold,” with an average price target of $22.88.

MARA’s recently released quarterly earnings report showed a miss on both earnings per share (EPS) and revenue expectations. The company reported an EPS of ($0.42), compared to analyst estimates of ($0.38), and revenue of $131.60 million versus projected $140.26 million. While revenue increased by 34.4% year-over-year, the negative EPS and lower-than-expected performance contributed to the stock’s decline. Analysts predict a -0.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adding to the negative sentiment, recent SEC filings revealed insider selling. CEO Frederick Thiel sold 27,505 shares, and CFO Salman Hassan Khan sold 16,700 shares. In total, insiders sold 135,622 shares over the last three months.

Despite the negative news, some institutional investors increased their holdings in MARA during the recent quarter, including Truvestments Capital LLC, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC, Larson Financial Group LLC, Signaturefd LLC, and Capital Performance Advisors LLP. Institutional investors currently hold 44.53% of MARA’s stock.

MARA maintains a strong balance sheet, with a current and quick ratio of 4.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. However, the company’s high beta of 5.52 indicates significant volatility. The stock’s 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages are $17.83 and $18.70, respectively. The company has a market capitalization of $8.42 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00.

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