MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 6.9% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares shot up 6.9% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $25.50 and last traded at $24.66. 1,548,195 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 3,198,006 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.06.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.61.

MP Materials Stock Up 4.0 %

The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.63 and a beta of 2.24. The company has a current ratio of 6.93, a quick ratio of 6.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.66.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.05). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 32.09% and a negative return on equity of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $60.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.71 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.51, for a total value of $1,530,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 230,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,869,851. This trade represents a 20.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 489,918 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $13,115,104.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 15,153,158 shares in the company, valued at $405,650,039.66. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,130,835 shares of company stock worth $29,165,987 over the last three months. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 3,618.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 140,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,426,000 after purchasing an additional 136,583 shares during the last quarter. Aegis Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,000. Pullen Investment Management LLC boosted its position in MP Materials by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 31,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,000 after acquiring an additional 7,590 shares during the last quarter. JT Stratford LLC grew its stake in MP Materials by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 63,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $993,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in MP Materials by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 22,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 767 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corp., together with its subsidiaries, produces rare earth materials. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth mine and processing facility in North America. It holds the mineral rights to the Mountain Pass mine and surrounding areas, as well as intellectual property rights related to the processing and development of rare earth minerals.