MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 4.9% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded up 4.9% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $60.34 and last traded at $60.2540. Approximately 5,225,576 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 22% from the average session volume of 6,670,876 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.42.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Two investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.21.

MP Materials Trading Up 4.9%

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.82. The stock has a market cap of $10.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -177.21 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 9.51 and a quick ratio of 8.56.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The company had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.13) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $803,461,973.72. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 10,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $54.30 per share, with a total value of $543,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This represents a 7.90% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 585,167 shares of company stock worth $39,028,272. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MP. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth about $672,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 5,523.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 9,225,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,731,000 after acquiring an additional 9,061,633 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 155.1% in the second quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 7,685 shares during the period. Markowski Investments bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Oakmont Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,430,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently 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.