MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 5.2% on Insider Selling

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price dropped 5.2% on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $58.98 and last traded at $60.4220. Approximately 9,736,799 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 38% from the average daily volume of 7,051,691 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.73.

Specifically, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 177,188 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total value of $11,540,254.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,205,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $794,974,500.45. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 122,812 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.90, for a total value of $8,093,310.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,383,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $816,049,782.70. The trade was a 0.98% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Wedbush raised their target price on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $81.00.

MP Materials News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting MP Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain upbeat on MP Materials after its Q1 results: Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $70 from $62 and kept an Overweight rating, while Deutsche Bank lifted its target to $70 from $65 and reiterated a Buy rating. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: MP Materials continues to benefit from strong fundamental execution, including a Q1 earnings beat and 49.1% year-over-year revenue growth, which supports the stock’s longer-term rare-earth growth story. Article Title

MP Materials Trading Up 1.7%

The firm has a market cap of $10.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -146.07 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $58.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.37. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MP. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in MP Materials by 26.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 234,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,716,000 after acquiring an additional 49,052 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $215,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $219,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 193,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,734,000 after purchasing an additional 51,348 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MP Materials

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.