MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 5.9% – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares rose 5.9% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $48.48 and last traded at $48.2870. Approximately 7,156,470 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 5% from the average daily volume of 7,543,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on MP. TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Up 2.8%

The firm has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a PE ratio of -95.62 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.18. The company has a quick ratio of 6.67, a current ratio of 7.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. MP Materials’s revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. Analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 346,000 shares of company stock worth $22,006,616. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Calamos Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MP Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $16,726,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 3rd quarter worth $670,000. Private Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $9,702,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $550,000. Finally, Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials in the third quarter worth $1,089,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corporation operates as a vertically integrated producer of rare earth materials in North America. The company owns and manages the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in California, the only commercially viable rare earth mining and processing site in the United States. MP Materials extracts, separates and refines critical rare earth elements—such as neodymium, praseodymium, and cerium—which are essential inputs for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and various defense applications.

The Mountain Pass mine first began commercial rare earth production in the 1950s and was later operated by Molycorp until its bankruptcy in 2015.