MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 4.3% – Should You Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded up 4.3% during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $48.67 and last traded at $47.3610. 6,034,286 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 6,463,722 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.43.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Monday, August 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Freedom Broker assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.29.

MP Materials Stock Up 4.3%

The company has a quick ratio of 8.56, a current ratio of 9.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $8.44 billion, a PE ratio of -139.29 and a beta of 1.94. The company’s fifty day moving average is $51.12 and its 200-day moving average is $55.50.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The business had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.13) EPS. On average, analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of MP Materials by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,773,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,408,000 after acquiring an additional 376,519 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,544,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,587,000 after purchasing an additional 197,375 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,531,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the second quarter worth approximately $65,230,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 32.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 919,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,355,000 after purchasing an additional 225,009 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp. is a rare earth materials company that owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and processing facility in California. The site produces rare earth concentrate, with a focus on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-strength permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production by developing domestic capabilities to separate rare earth elements and manufacture neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets.