Phoenix Financial Ltd. Acquires New Position in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Key Points

• Phoenix Financial Ltd. opened a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter, buying 8,880 shares valued at about $449,000.
• MP Materials reported a strong Q1, beating earnings and revenue expectations with $0.03 EPS and $90.65 million in revenue, up 49.1% year over year. The results helped reinforce bullish analyst sentiment.
• Analysts remain positive overall, with firms like Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank raising price targets to $70; the stock’s consensus rating is Buy with an average target price of $81.00.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $449,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. grew its position in MP Materials by 555.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its position in MP Materials by 106.2% during the third quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 635 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in MP Materials by 75.9% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 642 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of MP Materials stock opened at $61.35 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.37. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. MP Materials Corp. has a 1-year low of $18.64 and a 1-year high of $100.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -146.07 and a beta of 1.90.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $74.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. MP Materials's revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,176,275. The trade was a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 177,188 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total transaction of $11,540,254.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,205,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $794,974,500.45. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 666,000 shares of company stock valued at $43,103,382 over the last 90 days. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MP. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MP Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.00.

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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