MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Rating Increased to Moderate Buy at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of MP Materials (NYSE:MP) to a moderate buy rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

MP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Three 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Stock Performance

NYSE MP opened at $68.72 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -163.61 and a beta of 1.86. MP Materials has a twelve month low of $22.04 and a twelve month high of $100.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.71. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that MP Materials will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,512,565.26. This trade represents a 1.29% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,066,000 shares of company stock worth $69,329,207. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MP. Norges Bank bought a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,531,000. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its position in MP Materials by 168.4% in the 3rd quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624,908 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in MP Materials by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in MP Materials by 71.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,220,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd lifted its position in MP Materials by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.