MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 4.5% Following Insider Selling

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) dropped 4.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $26.28 and last traded at $26.33. Approximately 2,736,275 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 34% from the average daily volume of 4,175,003 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.58.

Specifically, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 199,180 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.08, for a total value of $5,393,794.40. Following the transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.61.

MP Materials Trading Down 4.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 6.93 and a quick ratio of 6.13. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $24.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.43 and a beta of 2.24.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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). The firm 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%. On average, analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MP. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth $6,284,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $399,000. Oak Family Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $530,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $388,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in MP Materials by 167.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,902 shares of the company's stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 22,473 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.