MP Materials (NYSE:MP) CEO James Litinsky Sells 234,651 Shares of Stock

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO James Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total value of $15,456,461.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,855,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,952,414.55. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

MP Materials Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of MP opened at $64.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -153.75 and a beta of 1.90. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.52. 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 $19.60 and a 1 year high of $100.25.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $90.65 million during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MP. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. TD Securities raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Wedbush increased 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. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $69.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.08.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.