James Litinsky Sells 272,600 Shares of MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO James Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

MP Materials Stock Performance

MP opened at $61.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 8.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $57.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -87.30 and a beta of 1.62. MP Materials Corp. has a 12-month low of $18.64 and a 12-month high of $100.25.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $53.55 million during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MP has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Daiwa America upgraded MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upgraded MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.91.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MP. Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials during the third quarter worth about $16,726,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in MP Materials by 132.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 176,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,888,000 after acquiring an additional 100,915 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $241,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at $168,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.