MP Materials (NYSE:MP) CEO Sells $2,614,585.05 in Stock

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO James Litinsky sold 40,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.05, for a total value of $2,614,585.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,765,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,607,473.20. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of MP Materials stock traded up $5.25 during trading on Monday, reaching $66.24. 8,925,096 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,099,579. The company has a market capitalization of $11.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -127.38 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 6.67. MP Materials Corp. has a 52-week low of $18.64 and a 52-week high of $100.25.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The firm’s revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Securities upgraded MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Wedbush assumed coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.08.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in MP Materials by 420.0% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new stake in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.