MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 9.3% Higher – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price traded up 9.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $41.77 and last traded at $41.6550. Approximately 7,012,566 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 6,580,895 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.10.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MP. Wall Street Zen lowered MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, June 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.35.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a PE ratio of -99.18 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.46.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,512,565.26. The trade was a 1.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders sold 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837 over the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. grew its position in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $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.