DA Davidson Reiterates “Buy” Rating for MP Materials (NYSE:MP)

MP Materials (NYSE:MP)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at DA Davidson in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $82.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 44.97% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on MP. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.21.

MP Materials Stock Performance

MP traded down $3.49 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $56.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,253,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,652,586. MP Materials has a 52 week low of $37.81 and a 52 week high of $100.25. The company’s 50-day moving average is $51.76 and its 200-day moving average is $56.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a current ratio of 9.51. The firm has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a PE ratio of -166.09 and a beta of 1.88.

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

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 585,167 shares of company stock valued at $39,028,272 in the last three months. Insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its stake in MP Materials by 73.3% in the second quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.