MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 1.1% Higher – Time to Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded up 1.1% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $63.02 and last traded at $62.2740. 3,609,349 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 8,052,472 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MP. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Down 4.7%

The company has a current ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.57. The company has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a PE ratio of -109.98 and a beta of 1.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Composition Wealth LLC raised its position in MP Materials by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 28.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in MP Materials by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 18,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,218,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in MP Materials by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $872,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.