Insider Selling: MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO Sells 199,180 Shares of Stock

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) CEO James H. Litinsky sold 199,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.08, for a total transaction of $5,393,794.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,643,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,454,498.08. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

MP Materials Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of MP opened at $26.24 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 6.93, a quick ratio of 6.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.47 and a beta of 2.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $24.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.13. MP Materials Corp. has a 12 month low of $10.02 and a 12 month high of $29.72.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on MP shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.61.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in MP Materials by 44.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,537,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,986,000 after buying an additional 2,005,505 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $14,886,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,284,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $6,019,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,524,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.