Leonteq Securities AG Raises Stake in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Leonteq Securities AG lifted its stake in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 28.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 62,130 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,615 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $2,998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $9,702,000. Polianta Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,227,000. South Dakota Investment Council purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,617,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 84.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 118,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,931,000 after acquiring an additional 54,031 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $992,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MP shares. Wedbush raised their price objective on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, June 5th. Barclays began coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $69.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of MP Materials stock opened at $53.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.18 and a quick ratio of 6.58. MP Materials Corp. has a 1 year low of $29.58 and a 1 year high of $100.25. The company has a market capitalization of $9.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -126.84 and a beta of 1.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.42.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at $800,756,938.95. This represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,512,565.26. The trade was a 1.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 1,205,167 shares of company stock valued at $79,371,654 over the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MP Materials 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.