MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 7.9% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares rose 7.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $66.19 and last traded at $66.1390. Approximately 5,505,134 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average daily volume of 6,992,282 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.30.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MP has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Wedbush initiated coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Monday, April 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 target price on the stock. TD Securities raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.08.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.84 billion, a PE ratio of -128.16 and a beta of 1.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $57.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 6.67.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $52.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.06 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,756,938.95. This trade represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 346,000 shares of company stock worth $21,969,816 over the last ninety days. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. Costello Asset Management INC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Composition Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 28.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 1.0% in the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 18,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,218,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 4.7% in the third quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.