MP Materials (NYSE:MP) CEO James Litinsky Sells 185,167 Shares

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO James Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total value of $12,802,446.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at $803,461,973.72. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

MP Materials Trading Down 9.6%

MP Materials stock traded down $6.26 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $59.20. The stock had a trading volume of 8,013,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,734,868. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.75. MP Materials Corp. has a twelve month low of $23.26 and a twelve month high of $100.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.18 and a quick ratio of 6.58. The firm has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -140.96 and a beta of 1.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MP Materials by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MP Materials by 102.5% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 16,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 8,557 shares during the period. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC boosted its stake in MP Materials by 138.7% during the 1st quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 22,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 13,109 shares during the period. BankChampaign National Association bought a new stake in MP Materials during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $477,000. Finally, Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in MP Materials during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,034,000. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. TD Securities upgraded MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $69.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corporation operates as a vertically integrated producer of rare earth materials in North America. The company owns and manages the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in California, the only commercially viable rare earth mining and processing site in the United States. MP Materials extracts, separates and refines critical rare earth elements—such as neodymium, praseodymium, and cerium—which are essential inputs for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and various defense applications.

The Mountain Pass mine first began commercial rare earth production in the 1950s and was later operated by Molycorp until its bankruptcy in 2015.