J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Cuts Position in MP Materials Corp. $MP

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lessened its stake in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 63.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,302 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,240 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,928,000 after purchasing an additional 378,510 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in MP Materials by 19,314.3% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,013,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,987,000 after acquiring an additional 2,003,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its position in MP Materials by 2.0% in the second quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,196,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,821,000 after acquiring an additional 23,888 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at $9,399,960. This represents a 19.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 991,557 shares of company stock valued at $62,785,202. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MP Materials Stock Down 6.9%

Shares of MP opened at $62.38 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $59.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -87.85 and a beta of 1.62. MP Materials Corp. has a 52 week low of $18.64 and a 52 week high of $100.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a current ratio of 8.05.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 50.55% and a negative return on equity of 7.69%. The business’s revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on MP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

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.