MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fifteen have given a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.1429.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MP shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Barclays started coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $69.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush lifted their price objective on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MP opened at $72.10 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.84 billion, a PE ratio of -171.66 and a beta of 1.86. MP Materials has a fifty-two week low of $20.60 and a fifty-two week high of $100.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.69 and a 200-day moving average of $59.54.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,176,275. The trade was a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 50,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.58, for a total value of $3,229,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $762,429,219.70. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,066,000 shares of company stock valued at $69,329,207. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% in the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.