MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 1.6% – Should You Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price shot up 1.6% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $55.08 and last traded at $54.7450. Approximately 3,539,230 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 6,820,546 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MP. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -130.35 and a beta of 1.86. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.53. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.12) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at $8,176,275. The trade was a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 1,205,167 shares of company stock valued at $79,371,654 in the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% in the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by 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.