Old West Investment Management LLC Sells 16,481 Shares of MP Materials Corp. $MP

Old West Investment Management LLC cut its position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 41.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,589 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,481 shares during the quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $1,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MP. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in MP Materials by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 234,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,716,000 after acquiring an additional 49,052 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the first quarter valued at about $215,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the first quarter worth about $219,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in MP Materials by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 193,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,734,000 after purchasing an additional 51,348 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,288,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at $9,399,960. The trade was a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total value of $24,231,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 13,105,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $824,889,437.10. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 991,557 shares of company stock valued at $62,785,202 in the last three months. 9.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Performance

MP stock opened at $61.35 on Friday. MP Materials Corp. has a twelve month low of $18.64 and a twelve month high of $100.25. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 8.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -86.41 and a beta of 1.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $59.80 and its 200-day moving average is $64.92.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.The business had revenue of $53.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.72 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research 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.