MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.1429.

Several research firms have recently commented on MP. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Wedbush upped their price objective on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th.

MP Materials Price Performance

NYSE MP opened at $53.95 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -128.44 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.18 and a quick ratio of 6.58. MP Materials has a 1-year low of $29.58 and a 1-year high of $100.25.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at $803,461,973.72. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $54.30 per share, with a total value of $543,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at $7,418,574.60. The trade was a 7.90% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock worth $79,371,654. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,702,000. Polianta Ltd purchased a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth $1,227,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates grew its holdings in MP Materials by 84.1% in the third quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 118,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,931,000 after purchasing an additional 54,031 shares during the last quarter. South Dakota Investment Council acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the third quarter worth $1,617,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the third quarter worth $3,505,000. 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.