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

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 10,089 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 136% compared to the average daily volume of 4,280 put options.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MP. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. boosted its stake in MP Materials by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 178,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,540,000 after purchasing an additional 31,355 shares during the period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 27,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $548,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 25.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,380,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,574,000 after acquiring an additional 2,697,925 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 1,000.0% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 66,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 60,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in MP Materials by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 2,960,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,756,000 after acquiring an additional 614,088 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded MP Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $20.00 to $16.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of MP Materials from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $36.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of MP Materials from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $15.50 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of MP Materials from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.64.

MP Materials Stock Performance

MP stock opened at $15.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.39, a P/E/G ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 2.31. MP Materials has a 12 month low of $12.68 and a 12 month high of $26.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.38. The company has a quick ratio of 9.54, a current ratio of 10.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05). The company had revenue of $41.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.40 million. MP Materials had a return on equity of 3.86% and a net margin of 9.59%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MP Materials will post 0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.