MP Materials Corp. $MP Position Lessened by Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC lowered its position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 36.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,750 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,550 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $1,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MP. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in MP Materials during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in MP Materials by 4,600.0% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 564 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank increased its position in MP Materials by 500.0% during the third quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 600 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,399,960. This trade represents a 19.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $821,758,774.05. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 991,557 shares of company stock worth $62,785,202 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, November 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Trading Up 8.5%

MP Materials stock opened at $61.35 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.92. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 8.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. MP Materials Corp. has a 12 month low of $18.64 and a 12 month high of $100.25. The stock has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -86.41 and a beta of 1.60.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 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.