Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) stock is plunging 10% lower today, bringing its year-to-date (YTD) return to under 1% as of this writing. The decline comes amid Bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) run up of about 50% during the past month. However both BTC and the S&P 500 are in the red today as well.
Yesterday, Marathon disclosed that it had registered 15 million shares of MARA stock for issuance in connection with its employee equity incentive plan. A total of 30 million shares have now been reserved for issuance as part of the plan.
This comes after the Bitcoin mining company reported its fourth-quarter and full-year results. For 2023, revenue increased by a significant 229% year-over-year (YOY) to $387.5 million, driven by an energized hash rate of 24.7 EH/s and the production of 12,852 Bitcoins, up by 210%. Earnings per diluted share tallied in at $1.06 compared to a loss of $6.12 in 2022.
“In 2024, we plan to grow our hash rate to approximately 35 to 37 exahash. By the end of 2025, we plan to be at 50 exahash, which is approximately double our current capacity. With orders for 22 exahash of miners already placed and options to add an additional 23 exahash to these orders, we believe there may be opportunities to accelerate our growth targets,” said CEO and Chairman Fred Thiel.
5 Investors Betting Big on MARA Stock
Tracking institutional ownership is important, as these large investors provide liquidity and support for stocks. During Q4, 260 13F filers disclosed a stake in MARA stock, an increase of 49 filers, or 23.22%, from the prior quarter. In total, 13F exposure to the company increased by a sizable 28.32% to 103.88 million shares. That’s a bullish signal.
Hedge funds, whose data is included in 13F metrics, were even more bullish. A total of 61 hedge funds disclosed ownership of Marathon Digital as of Dec. 31, up from 46 funds. These hedge funds owned a total of 18.64 million shares, up by 66.91% compared to the third quarter.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at Marathon’s largest institutional shareholders:
- Vanguard: 23.47 million shares. Vanguard acquired 4.95 million shares during Q4.
- BlackRock (NYSE:BLK): 17.19 million shares. BlackRock acquired 4.62 million shares during Q4.
- Jane Street: 8.47 million shares. Jane Street acquired 6.82 million shares during Q4.
- Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS): 6.27 million shares. Morgan Stanley sold 728,441 shares during Q4.
- State Street (NYSE:STT): 5.42 million shares. State Street acquired 236,322 shares during Q4.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
