MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 2.7% – Still a Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price rose 2.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $51.38 and last traded at $50.8490. Approximately 3,039,457 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 6,608,296 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.25.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -110.61 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.29.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction 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 approximately $803,461,973.72. The trade was a 1.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock worth $79,371,654. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in MP Materials by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 46,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,604,000 after purchasing an additional 6,600 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 46.7% in the 2nd quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 18,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after buying an additional 5,738 shares during the period. Crumly & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 18.8% in the second quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 7,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 1,211 shares in the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $10,648,000. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials during the second quarter worth $202,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.