Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on MP Materials (NYSE:MP)

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 47,456 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 371% compared to the typical volume of 10,068 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MP shares. DA Davidson raised their price target on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on MP Materials from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.61.

MP Materials Trading Up 4.7%

MP opened at $19.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.31 and a beta of 2.24. The company has a current ratio of 6.93, a quick ratio of 6.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. MP Materials has a 12 month low of $10.02 and a 12 month high of $29.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.00.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $60.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.74 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 8.44% and a negative net margin of 32.09%. The company’s revenue was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.04) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 489,918 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $13,115,104.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 15,153,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $405,650,039.66. This trade represents a 3.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 15,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total value of $405,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 214,812 shares in the company, valued at $5,799,924. This trade represents a 6.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 943,792 shares of company stock worth $25,286,567 over the last quarter. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $6,284,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $399,000. Oak Family Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $530,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $388,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew 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 buying an additional 22,473 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About MP Materials

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.