Insider Selling: MP Materials (NYSE:MP) CEO Sells $16,595,231.37 in Stock
by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat GemMP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP – Get Free Report) CEO James Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
MP Materials Trading Up 5.3%
Shares of NYSE MP opened at $69.24 on Thursday. MP Materials Corp. has a twelve month low of $18.64 and a twelve month high of $100.25. The company has a current ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.30 billion, a PE ratio of -133.16 and a beta of 1.67.
MP Materials (NYSE:MP – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The business had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Institutional Trading of MP Materials
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of 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. lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,519,000 after purchasing an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,325,000 after purchasing an additional 769,517 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 71.6% in the 4th 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 last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Key MP Materials News
Here are the key news stories impacting MP Materials this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Wedbush initiated coverage with an “Outperform” and a $90 price target, calling MP the leading fully integrated U.S. rare‑earth producer and highlighting government support and long‑term magnet demand as upside catalysts. Wedbush Initiates Coverage
- Positive Sentiment: Macro/policy push: reporting that the U.S. is moving to invest roughly $20.9B into strategic industry stakes boosts the thematic case for onshoring critical‑mineral supply chains — a clear tailwind for MP as a domestic rare‑earth platform. Trump’s $20.9B Buying Spree
- Positive Sentiment: Analyst/sector interest: market commentators (including Daniel Ives and Seeking Alpha) are spotlighting U.S. rare‑earth names as strategic investments; coverage argues MP’s move from miner to integrated magnet/manufacturing player could expand margins if government deals and price floors persist. Ives: Betting on Rare Earth Stocks
- Neutral Sentiment: Sector M&A and third‑party deals (e.g., USAR activity) are re‑rating rare‑earth names broadly; MP benefits from positive sentiment even when transactions aren’t directly tied to its balance sheet. Sector M&A Lifts Names
- Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO James Litinsky sold shares in multiple Rule 10b5‑1 transactions this week (notably 259,179 shares on Apr. 20 and 40,821 shares on Apr. 17), totaling roughly $19M — the trades were pre‑arranged but may concern some investors about near‑term insider liquidity. SEC Form 4
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. TD Securities raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Wedbush assumed coverage on MP Materials in a report on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.08.
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.