MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 1.7% – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) was up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $62.28 and last traded at $61.35. Approximately 5,194,572 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 26% from the average daily volume of 7,033,704 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of 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 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

MP Materials Stock Up 1.7%

The company has a market capitalization of $10.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -146.07 and a beta of 1.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.36. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,756,938.95. This represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 666,000 shares of company stock valued at $43,103,382 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% in the 4th quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.