MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 5.8% – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded up 5.8% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $70.92 and last traded at $68.43. 10,456,198 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 2% from the average session volume of 10,215,852 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.65.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. 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 research note on Monday, November 24th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, November 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.77 and its 200-day moving average is $63.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -96.38 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 8.05 and a quick ratio of 7.51.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 50.55% and a negative return on equity of 7.69%. The company had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.72 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total transaction of $24,231,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 13,105,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $824,889,437.10. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,399,960. This trade represents a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 991,557 shares of company stock worth $62,785,202 in the last quarter. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% in the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in MP Materials by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,020,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $940,360,000 after purchasing an additional 363,975 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in MP Materials by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,928,000 after purchasing an additional 378,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in MP Materials by 76.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.