USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ:USAR) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Stock gapped up: USA Rare Earth jumped from a $18.43 close to a $19.62 premarket open and last traded around $19.96 on volume of 3,223,609 shares.
• Analyst consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with six Buy and one Sell, an average target of $29.67, and recent price-target moves ranging roughly $25 to $35 (Canaccord cut to $29; Cantor Fitzgerald raised to $35).
• Insider buying and ownership: Directors bought stock (Michael Blitzer 100,000 shares at $21.44; Carolyn Trabuco 1,300 shares), insiders own about 46.6%, and the company is advancing the Round Top rare‑earth and lithium project in Texas.

USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $18.43, but opened at $19.62. USA Rare Earth shares last traded at $19.9630, with a volume of 3,223,609 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on USAR. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of USA Rare Earth from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of USA Rare Earth in a report on Friday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of USA Rare Earth from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Benchmark began coverage on shares of USA Rare Earth in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, Roth Mkm set a $25.00 price objective on shares of USA Rare Earth and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $29.67.

USA Rare Earth Price Performance

The company's fifty day simple moving average is $18.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.82. The stock has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.56 and a beta of 1.34.

USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ:USAR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 30th. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.64 million for the quarter.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Carolyn Trabuco bought 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $22.60 per share, for a total transaction of $29,380.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,380. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Blitzer bought 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.44 per share, with a total value of $2,144,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 847,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,170,400. The trade was a 13.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 46.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of USA Rare Earth

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of USA Rare Earth by 150.0% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 22,653 shares of the company's stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 67,997 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of USA Rare Earth in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of USA Rare Earth in the fourth quarter valued at about $832,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of USA Rare Earth by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 67,592 shares of the company's stock valued at $804,000 after purchasing an additional 13,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in shares of USA Rare Earth by 33.8% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 53,349 shares of the company's stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 13,466 shares during the last quarter.

USA Rare Earth Company Profile

USA Rare Earth NASDAQ: USAR is a development-stage critical minerals company focused on advancing a fully integrated rare earth element (REE) and lithium project in the United States. Its flagship asset is the Round Top deposit in West Texas, a large, polymetallic concentration of light and heavy rare earth elements, lithium and other co-products. The company seeks to move this asset through resource delineation, pilot-scale processing and eventual commercial production to address growing domestic demand for secure REE supply chains.

In addition to exploration, USA Rare Earth is engineering an on-site separation facility that will utilize dry magnetic separation and hydrometallurgical flowsheets to produce mixed rare earth carbonates.

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