MP Materials Corp. $MP Holdings Cut by J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG trimmed its stake in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 63.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,302 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,240 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MP. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in MP Materials by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new position in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in MP Materials by 4,600.0% during the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 500.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 28.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 806 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, November 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,399,960. This represents a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 991,557 shares of company stock valued at $62,785,202 over the last 90 days. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MP Materials Stock Performance

MP stock opened at $62.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 8.05, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.05 billion, a PE ratio of -87.85 and a beta of 1.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.83. MP Materials Corp. has a 12-month low of $18.64 and a 12-month high of $100.25.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 50.55% and a negative return on equity of 7.69%. The business had revenue of $53.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.72 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.