Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft Acquires New Position in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Key Points

• Baader Bank opened a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter, buying 8,351 shares valued at about $416,000. Other hedge funds also added to or initiated stakes, with institutional ownership now at 52.55%.
• MP Materials reported a strong Q1 earnings beat, posting $0.03 EPS versus estimates for a loss and revenue of $90.65 million, up 49.1% year over year. Analysts responded positively, with Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank both raising price targets to $70.
• Despite the upbeat fundamentals, there has been notable insider selling: CEO James H. Litinsky and CFO Ryan Corbett both sold shares, and insiders sold 666,000 shares worth about $43.1 million over the last quarter. Even so, Wall Street’s consensus rating remains Buy with an average price target of $81.

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $416,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 75.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 642 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 106.2% during the 3rd quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 635 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key MP Materials News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain upbeat on MP Materials after its Q1 results: Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $70 from $62 and kept an Overweight rating, while Deutsche Bank lifted its target to $70 from $65 and reiterated a Buy rating. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: MP Materials continues to benefit from strong fundamental execution, including a Q1 earnings beat and 49.1% year-over-year revenue growth, which supports the stock’s longer-term rare-earth growth story. Article Title

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. This represents a 2.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 666,000 shares of company stock valued at $43,103,382 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MP. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wedbush upped their price target on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.00.

MP Materials Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE MP opened at $61.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The company has a market capitalization of $10.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -146.07 and a beta of 1.90. MP Materials Corp. has a one year low of $18.64 and a one year high of $100.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.37.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MP Materials 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.

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