Insider Selling: MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO Sells 161,175 Shares of Stock

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO James H. Litinsky sold 161,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total transaction of $4,342,054.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,352,689 shares in the company, valued at $386,661,441.66. This represents a 1.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MP traded down $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $26.80. The company had a trading volume of 2,691,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,095,588. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.56. MP Materials Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $10.02 and a fifty-two week high of $27.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.42 and a beta of 2.32. The company has a quick ratio of 6.13, a current ratio of 6.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.05). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 8.44% and a negative net margin of 32.09%. The firm had revenue of $60.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.71 million. On average, research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oak Family Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $530,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its position in MP Materials by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,245,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,988,000 after purchasing an additional 306,933 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in MP Materials by 806.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 42,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 38,204 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in MP Materials by 167.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 22,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,300,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MP shares. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $19.50 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.35.

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.