MP Materials Corp. $MP Shares Sold by Sigma Planning Corp

Key Points

• Sigma Planning Corp cut its stake in MP Materials by 69.3% in Q4, selling 36,918 shares and retaining 16,364 shares worth about $822,000.
• Insiders sold a total of 346,000 shares in the last 90 days — including CFO Ryan Corbett's 46,000-share sale for $2.76M and CEO James Litinsky's 259,179-share sale for ~$16.6M — leaving insiders with 8.20% ownership.
• Analysts remain mostly positive with a consensus Buy rating and a $79.08 price target; MP has an $11.78B market cap, a negative P/E, and last quarter reported EPS of $0.09 (beat) but missed revenue estimates and showed negative margins.

Sigma Planning Corp lessened its stake in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Free Report) by 69.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,364 shares of the company's stock after selling 36,918 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp's holdings in MP Materials were worth $822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased its position in MP Materials by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company's stock valued at $996,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in MP Materials by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company's stock valued at $731,519,000 after acquiring an additional 459,213 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in MP Materials by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its position in MP Materials by 168.4% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in MP Materials by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,119,058 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,055,000 after acquiring an additional 192,870 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 346,000 shares of company stock worth $21,969,816. Insiders own 8.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MP has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Wedbush began coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Monday, April 20th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $79.08.

MP Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MP stock opened at $66.29 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $11.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -127.48 and a beta of 1.90. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.96. MP Materials Corp. has a 12-month low of $18.64 and a 12-month high of $100.25. The company has a current ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.12) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 EPS for the current 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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