MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 5.4% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price was up 5.4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $54.09 and last traded at $53.3260. Approximately 6,448,375 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 16% from the average daily volume of 7,709,926 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Securities raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MP Materials presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Trading Up 0.9%

The company has a market cap of $9.55 billion, a PE ratio of -103.38 and a beta of 1.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.73. The company has a current ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,020. The trade was a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $22,006,616 in the last 90 days. 12.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MP. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.