The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price was on form again in June.
During the month, the lithium miner's shares rose almost 11%.
This compares favourably to the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which rose 1.6% for the period.
Following this gain, the Pilbara Minerals share price is now up over 130% since this time last year.
Why did the Pilbara Minerals share price beat the market?
Investors were buying the company's shares last month despite there being no major news out of it.
However, it is worth highlighting that a number of lithium shares outperformed the market.
For example, Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) shares rose almost 8% and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE: SQM) jumped 13% on Wall Street.
This may have been driven by a mid-month increase in lithium prices in China. We reported the following on 14 June:
ASX 200 lithium shares appear to be following in the footsteps of their counterparts in the United States, while the price of battery-grade lithium soared 8% to US$272,476 per mt on the Shanghai Metals Market.
What else?
In addition, a number of brokers spoke positively about the Pilbara Minerals share price last month.
Morgans retained its add rating with a $5 price target, whereas Macquarie retained its outperform rating and $7.30 price target on its shares.
And while the company's shares have now raced beyond Morgans' price target, they are still meaningfully lower than Macquarie's price target.
In fact, with its share price currently fetching $5.26, Macquarie appears to believe it could still rise a further 39% even after June's heroics.
