Traders Purchase Large Volume of MP Materials Call Options (NYSE:MP)

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 8,631 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 171% compared to the average daily volume of 3,190 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on MP Materials from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on MP Materials from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on MP Materials from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MP Materials from $13.50 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.11.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MP traded up $1.33 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $15.56. 1,707,984 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,327,769. MP Materials has a 12-month low of $10.02 and a 12-month high of $20.85. The company has a current ratio of 6.90, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $13.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.48. The company has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of -104.53 and a beta of 2.22.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.08). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 21.94% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The company had revenue of $31.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.07 EPS. MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that MP Materials will post -0.44 EPS for the current year.

MP Materials announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, September 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 13.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.84 per share, with a total value of $325,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,402,975 shares in the company, valued at $15,208,249. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 12.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in MP Materials by 153,700.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 3,803.8% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 3,956 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $100,000. Finally, Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 15.9% during the first quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 8,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp., together with its subsidiaries, produces rare earth materials. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth mine and processing facility in North America. It holds the mineral rights to the Mountain Pass mine and surrounding areas, as well as intellectual property rights related to the processing and development of rare earth minerals.