MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 5.3% – Still a Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price shot up 5.3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $67.00 and last traded at $65.2970. 11,620,765 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 23% from the average session volume of 9,482,602 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on MP shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, November 14th. Daiwa Capital Markets started coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $11.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -91.97 and a beta of 1.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $57.48 and a 200 day moving average of $62.28. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 8.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.05. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 50.55% and a negative return on equity of 7.69%. The firm had revenue of $53.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.72 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 156,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,399,960. This represents a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total value of $24,231,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,105,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $824,889,437.10. This trade represents a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 991,557 shares of company stock worth $62,785,202. 12.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd grew its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% in the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,020,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $940,360,000 after purchasing an additional 363,975 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in MP Materials by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,928,000 after purchasing an additional 378,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in MP Materials by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. 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.