MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 3% on Insider Selling

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares fell 3% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $57.51 and last traded at $57.5430. 3,478,358 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 7,698,914 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.30.

Specifically, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MP shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Trading Down 3.0%

The company has a current ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $10.20 billion, a PE ratio of -110.66 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.18.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd lifted its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% in the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,325,000 after purchasing an additional 769,517 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $132,238,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,928,000 after purchasing an additional 378,510 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MP Materials Company 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.