MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $27.69, but opened at $28.48. MP Materials shares last traded at $27.80, with a volume of 1,457,214 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MP shares. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on MP Materials from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $23.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.61.

MP Materials Trading Down 2.2%

The company has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -46.26 and a beta of 2.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 6.13 and a current ratio of 6.93.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $60.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.74 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 8.44% and a negative net margin of 32.09%. MP Materials’s revenue was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. Analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.51, for a total transaction of $1,530,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 230,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,869,851. This trade represents a 20.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 161,175 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total transaction of $4,342,054.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,352,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $386,661,441.66. This trade represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 943,792 shares of company stock valued at $25,286,567. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in MP Materials by 44.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,537,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,986,000 after buying an additional 2,005,505 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the first quarter worth $34,288,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in MP Materials by 429.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,550,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,839,000 after buying an additional 1,257,282 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth $14,886,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 7.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,662,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,503,000 after acquiring an additional 942,105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.