MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 4.3% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) rose 4.3% on Thursday. The company traded as high as $41.71 and last traded at $41.6540. Approximately 6,564,281 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 2% from the average daily volume of 6,429,126 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of MP Materials from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.92.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 9.51 and a quick ratio of 8.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -118.18 and a beta of 1.98.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%. The firm had revenue of $108.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.13) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.20 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 7.6% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 55,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,618,000 after purchasing an additional 3,930 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in MP Materials by 87.1% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 1,284 shares during the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials in the third quarter valued at $267,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in MP Materials by 6.9% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 14,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,000 after buying an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chiron Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the third quarter valued at $549,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.