MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 4.5% – Still a Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares rose 4.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $64.08 and last traded at $62.5390. Approximately 12,789,887 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 41% from the average daily volume of 9,044,271 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.82.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Daiwa America raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $57.46 and its 200 day moving average is $61.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 8.05 and a quick ratio of 7.51. The company has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a PE ratio of -88.08 and a beta of 1.62.

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. The business had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 50.55% and a negative return on equity of 7.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,399,960. The trade was a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total transaction of $24,231,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 13,105,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $824,889,437.10. This trade represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 691,557 shares of company stock worth $43,538,586. 12.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Calamos Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the third quarter worth $16,726,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 132.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 176,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,888,000 after acquiring an additional 100,915 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $241,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $168,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.