Traders Buy High Volume of MP Material Call Options (NYSE:MP)

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP – Get Free Report ) was the recipient of unusually high options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 8,631 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 171% from the average volume of 3,190 call options.

Insiders place their bets

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.84 per share, for a total transaction of $325,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 1,402,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,208,249. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed via this hyperlink. 12.60% of shares are currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional inputs and outputs

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in MP Materials in the second quarter valued at $100,000. Sycomore Asset Management boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 27.8% in the second quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 37,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $468,000 after acquiring an additional 8,083 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 26.3% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 847,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,785,000 after acquiring an additional 176,219 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 1.7% in the second quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 66,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the period. Finally, Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 64.6% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 7,906 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s shares.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades

MP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Monday, July 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $16.50 price objective for the company. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.11, according to MarketBeat.

Get the latest research report on MP

MP material stock up 9.3%

Shares of MP Materials traded up $1.33 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $15.56. 1,707,984 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,327,769. The company has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -104.53 and a beta of 2.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 6.17, and a current ratio of 6.90. MP Materials has a 52-week low of $10.02 and a 52-week high of $20.85.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP – Get Your Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $31.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.03 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 21.94% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. In the same quarter last year, the business posted EPS of $0.07. equities analysts expect that MP Materials will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MP Materials declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, September 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 13.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that company management believes its stock is undervalued.

MP Materials Company Profile

(Get a free report)

MP Materials Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures rare earth materials. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth mine and processing facility in North America. It owns 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.

Further reading

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