MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 1.3% – Still a Buy?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shot up 1.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $46.70 and last traded at $45.8430. Approximately 6,345,778 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 6,607,010 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.24.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.25.

MP Materials Stock Up 1.3%

The business has a fifty day moving average of $58.24 and a 200 day moving average of $59.19. The firm has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -109.15 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its 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. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The firm had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,620,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $803,461,973.72. The trade was a 1.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837 in the last ninety days. 8.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MP. Private Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $9,702,000. Polianta Ltd bought a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $1,227,000. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,184,000. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,451,000. Finally, Phoenix Financial Ltd. acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $449,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.