Leonteq Securities AG Raises Stock Holdings in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Leonteq Securities AG grew its position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 28.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,130 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,615 shares during the quarter. Leonteq Securities AG’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $2,998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd raised its position in MP Materials by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in MP Materials by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,519,000 after purchasing an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in MP Materials by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,325,000 after purchasing an additional 769,517 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in MP Materials by 76.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in MP Materials by 71.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,307 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,512,565.26. This trade represents a 1.29% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock valued at $79,371,654 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MP shares. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Monday, June 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on MP Materials in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wedbush boosted their price target on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MP opened at $53.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.18 and a quick ratio of 6.58. The firm has a market cap of $9.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -126.84 and a beta of 1.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.42. MP Materials Corp. has a 1-year low of $29.58 and a 1-year high of $100.25.

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

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.