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

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $53.78, but opened at $56.57. MP Materials shares last traded at $55.2090, with a volume of 2,699,854 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.21.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $51.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 9.51 and a quick ratio of 8.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.71 billion, a PE ratio of -160.06 and a beta of 1.94.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The business had revenue of $108.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. MP Materials’s revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.13) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Rosenthal purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $54.30 per share, with a total value of $543,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. The trade was a 7.90% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. Costello Asset Management INC raised its stake in MP Materials by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,009,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 21,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 73.3% during the 2nd quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneco Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneco Advisors LLC now owns 14,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $753,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 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.