MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 6.3% – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price traded up 6.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $44.38 and last traded at $43.9660. Approximately 5,555,613 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 6,583,795 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.37.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MP shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays lowered 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. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.21.

MP Materials Stock Up 6.3%

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -104.68 and a beta of 1.86. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $54.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.15. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The firm had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other news, 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 price of $54.30 per share, with a total value of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. The trade was a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total value of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 905,167 shares of company stock worth $60,161,837. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MP. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.