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

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares fell 2.5% on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $63.40 and last traded at $63.6940. 9,902,579 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 3% from the average session volume of 9,580,133 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.34.

Specifically, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 27,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total transaction of $1,753,874.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,078,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $837,158,945.65. This trade represents a 0.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $821,758,774.05. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley upgraded MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. One analyst has 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.com, MP Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.91.

MP Materials News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting MP Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: William Blair initiated coverage with an “Outperform” — a new institutional coverage and a constructive rating tends to attract buy-side interest and can raise multiple/target expectations. William Blair initiates coverage of MP Materials (MP) with outperform recommendation
• Positive Sentiment: Barron’s reports MP secured a Department of Defense agreement that derisks growth plans and led analysts to lift price targets — that defense exposure strengthens MP’s revenue visibility for magnet/rare-earth supply to the U.S. military. MP Materials Keeps Its Perfect Buy Rating After Defense Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Market/sector spotlight: MP is listed among Greenland/critical-materials plays that could see strategic interest as geopolitics focuses on rare-earth supply chains — this keeps MP in investor conversations but doesn’t guarantee near-term flows. Top 3 Greenland-linked stocks to watch amid Trump threats
• Negative Sentiment: CEO James Litinsky sold 27,400 shares (~$1.75M) in an early-Jan transaction — insider sales can signal cashing out to some investors and contributed to today’s downside pressure. Insider Selling: MP Materials (NYSE:MP) CEO Sells 27,400 Shares of Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Critical commentary: a recent Seeking Alpha piece argues MP’s current valuation is too optimistic — renewed valuation concerns can prompt analysts/traders to trim exposure despite growth narratives. MP Materials: Current Valuation Is Too Optimistic

MP Materials Stock Down 2.5%

The company has a market cap of $11.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -89.71 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.50. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 8.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $132,238,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in MP Materials by 19,314.3% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,013,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,987,000 after acquiring an additional 2,003,091 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 168.4% during the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624,908 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of MP Materials by 429.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,550,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257,282 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.