MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 8.6% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price was up 8.6% on Monday . The company traded as high as $66.54 and last traded at $66.2350. Approximately 8,719,264 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 22% from the average daily volume of 7,139,370 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on MP shares. TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Wedbush began coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.08.

MP Materials Trading Up 8.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 6.67, a current ratio of 7.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -127.38 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.85.

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. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The firm had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MP. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $82,531,000. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 168.4% in the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,705,000 after buying an additional 1,624,908 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 71.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd lifted its stake 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 valued at $996,741,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is 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.