Banco BTG Pactual S.A. Makes New Investment in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Banco BTG Pactual S.A. acquired a new position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 9,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $455,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth $9,702,000. Polianta Ltd acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth $1,227,000. South Dakota Investment Council acquired a new position in MP Materials in the third quarter worth $1,617,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates boosted its stake in MP Materials by 84.1% in the third quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 118,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,931,000 after purchasing an additional 54,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials in the third quarter worth $3,505,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MP shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Barclays started coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $69.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Trading Up 7.1%

MP stock opened at $57.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -136.32 and a beta of 1.86. MP Materials Corp. has a twelve month low of $25.17 and a twelve month high of $100.25. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $61.29 and a 200-day moving average of $59.69.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The firm’s revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.12) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,176,275. This represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total value of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,251,167 shares of company stock worth $82,131,654. 8.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About MP Materials

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.