MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 8.6% Higher – Should You Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) rose 8.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $59.80 and last traded at $59.78. Approximately 2,916,747 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 6,636,913 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.21.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $10.73 billion, a PE ratio of -177.14 and a beta of 1.88. 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 50 day moving average of $51.71 and a 200-day moving average of $56.86.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,855,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,952,414.55. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 585,167 shares of company stock worth $39,028,272 over the last ninety days. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MP. Nwam LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $239,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in MP Materials by 10.8% during the second quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 87,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,890,000 after buying an additional 8,542 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the second quarter valued at about $475,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC raised its holdings in MP Materials by 10.5% during the second quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 6,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 3.8% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 79,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,469,000 after buying an additional 2,922 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is 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.