James Litinsky Sells 185,167 Shares of MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO James Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $803,461,973.72. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

MP Materials Stock Down 9.6%

Shares of NYSE MP opened at $59.20 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.75. MP Materials Corp. has a 52-week low of $23.26 and a 52-week high of $100.25. The firm has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -140.96 and a beta of 1.86. 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 (NYSE:MP) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $90.65 million for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD Securities upgraded shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.14.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,519,000 after purchasing an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,325,000 after purchasing an additional 769,517 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 71.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,307 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently 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.