MP Materials Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:MP)

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors bought 41,214 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 64% compared to the average daily volume of 25,102 call options.

More MP Materials News

Investors following MP have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Executives and a director bought a combined roughly $3.35 million of MP shares this week, a signal of insider confidence. The purchases followed the start of saleable magnet shipments to General Motors. MP Materials Stock Rises After Insiders Buy $3.35 Million
• Positive Sentiment: MP was among the companies receiving bullish calls in a Wall Street market roundup, which may support sentiment toward the rare-earth producer. Wall Street Wrap
• Negative Sentiment: Investors still face questions about whether the sharp revenue growth can continue and whether the share valuation already reflects much of the growth outlook. A separate report also said the federal government’s $400 million equity stake could face renewed scrutiny. MP Materials Faces Review of Federal Stake

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MP. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of MP Materials from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MP Materials from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 7th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday, August 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.50.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Rosenthal purchased 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $36.61 per share, with a total value of $988,470.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,360,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,814,238.53. The trade was a 2.02% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett purchased 5,476 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $36.25 per share, for a total transaction of $198,505.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 114,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,150,371.25. This represents a 5.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders acquired a total of 92,476 shares of company stock worth $3,353,475 over the last quarter. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its stake in MP Materials by 73.3% during the second quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 390.6% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Markowski Investments purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, MADDEN SECURITIES Corp purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MP Materials Stock Up 2.6%

MP stock traded up $0.97 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $38.42. The stock had a trading volume of 4,521,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,380,045. The business has a 50-day moving average of $44.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 6.75 and a quick ratio of 6.04. The firm has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -174.96 and a beta of 2.05. MP Materials has a 52-week low of $31.90 and a 52-week high of $76.80.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.06. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 0.05% and a negative net margin of 9.90%. The business had revenue of $147.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.37 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 175.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MP Materials will post -0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About MP Materials

MP Materials operates the Mountain Pass rare earth mine and processing facility in California. The site is a major North American source of rare earth materials, which are used in products such as electric vehicles, wind turbines, electronics and defense systems. The company mines and processes rare earth ore into concentrate and separated products, including neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), a key input for high-strength permanent magnets. MP Materials is also developing domestic magnet manufacturing capabilities to extend its business further along the supply chain.