MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Receives $78.91 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.9091.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets began coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Daiwa America upgraded shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th.

MP Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MP opened at $50.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -71.15 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 8.05 and a quick ratio of 7.51. MP Materials has a 1 year low of $15.56 and a 1 year high of $100.25.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.The firm had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.72 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.12) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that MP Materials will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,399,960. This trade represents a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total transaction of $24,231,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,105,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $824,889,437.10. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 691,557 shares of company stock worth $43,538,586. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 132.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 176,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,888,000 after acquiring an additional 100,915 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the second quarter valued at about $241,000. Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials during the third quarter worth about $16,726,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth about $168,000. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth about $14,998,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently 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.