MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 6.6% – Time to Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price was up 6.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $62.46 and last traded at $60.8230. Approximately 6,852,723 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 1% from the average session volume of 6,920,322 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on MP shares. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $69.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MP Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.66. The firm has a market cap of $10.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -144.83 and a beta of 1.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total value of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,620,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,176,275. This represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock valued at $79,371,654. Insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $82,531,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in MP Materials by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after buying an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in MP Materials by 71.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,220,000 after buying an additional 1,183,307 shares during the period. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 1,320.8% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 954,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,934,000 after buying an additional 887,148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.