MP Materials (NYSE:MP) CEO James Litinsky Sells 122,812 Shares

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO James Litinsky sold 122,812 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.90, for a total value of $8,093,310.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,383,153 shares in the company, valued at $816,049,782.70. This trade represents a 0.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

MP Materials Price Performance

NYSE MP traded down $3.31 during trading on Thursday, hitting $60.42. 9,869,247 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,562,317. The company has a market capitalization of $10.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -143.86 and a beta of 1.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.36. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. MP Materials Corp. has a 12-month low of $18.64 and a 12-month high of $100.25.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Wedbush boosted their price target on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $81.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $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 purchased a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.