MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 9.1% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price shot up 9.1% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $60.59 and last traded at $60.07. Approximately 8,372,674 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 26% from the average session volume of 6,671,400 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MP. Wall Street Zen downgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.21.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 8.56, a current ratio of 9.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.86. The company has a market capitalization of $10.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -176.67 and a beta of 1.88.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The business had revenue of $108.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.13) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.07 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. The trade was a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total value of $15,456,461.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,855,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,952,414.55. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 585,167 shares of company stock worth $39,028,272 over the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in MP Materials by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 234,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,716,000 after buying an additional 49,052 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the first quarter valued at about $215,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials during the 1st quarter worth about $219,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in MP Materials by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in MP Materials by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 193,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,734,000 after purchasing an additional 51,348 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.