MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 1.9% – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares were up 1.9% on Friday. The stock traded as high as $47.39 and last traded at $46.9630. 4,385,029 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 6,454,791 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.09.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MP. Zacks Research downgraded shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Freedom Broker initiated coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on MP Materials from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.42.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -138.12 and a beta of 1.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.33. The company has a quick ratio of 8.56, a current ratio of 9.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $108.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.13) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MP. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,773,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,408,000 after acquiring an additional 376,519 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in MP Materials by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,544,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,587,000 after acquiring an additional 197,375 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,531,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $65,230,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 32.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 919,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,355,000 after purchasing an additional 225,009 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corp. is a rare earth materials company that owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and processing facility in California. The site produces rare earth concentrate, with a focus on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-strength permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production by developing domestic capabilities to separate rare earth elements and manufacture neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets.