MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 2.5% Following Insider Selling

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price was down 2.5% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $53.22 and last traded at $55.28. Approximately 11,041,710 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 1% from the average daily volume of 10,932,058 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.68.

Specifically, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 248,411 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.86, for a total value of $15,863,526.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,369,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $853,786,806.90. This trade represents a 1.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.72, for a total transaction of $1,154,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 194,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,244,548.64. The trade was a 9.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on MP Materials from $64.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Bank of America boosted their target price on MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of MP Materials to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, November 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.82.

MP Materials Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a PE ratio of -77.86 and a beta of 2.26. The company has a current ratio of 8.05, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.94.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.The firm’s revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.12) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in MP Materials by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 99.7% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 10,138 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 16.5% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 47.8% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in MP Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $274,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp., together with its subsidiaries, produces rare earth materials. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth mine and processing facility in North America. It holds the mineral rights to the Mountain Pass mine and surrounding areas, as well as intellectual property rights related to the processing and development of rare earth minerals.