MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 1.1% Higher – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price rose 1.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $49.19 and last traded at $48.0030. 7,362,848 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 11% from the average session volume of 6,608,583 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.47.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on MP. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped 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. Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.21.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of -114.29 and a beta of 1.88.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its 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 net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total transaction of $15,456,461.37. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,176,275. The trade was a 15.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 905,167 shares of company stock worth $60,161,837 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.