MP Materials (NYSE:MP) CEO Sells $7,540,364.13 in Stock

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO James Litinsky sold 115,349 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.37, for a total transaction of $7,540,364.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,090,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $790,363,567.92. This represents a 0.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

MP Materials Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MP opened at $64.57 on Monday. 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 Corp. has a 12-month low of $19.60 and a 12-month high of $100.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -153.75 and a beta of 1.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. MP Materials’s revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. 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, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.08.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd raised its holdings in MP Materials by 7.2% in the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in MP Materials by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,519,000 after acquiring an additional 459,213 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in MP Materials by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,325,000 after acquiring an additional 769,517 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in MP Materials by 76.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in MP Materials by 71.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,220,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,307 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company 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.