MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 6.8% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded up 6.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $73.10 and last traded at $72.7110. 8,472,629 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 22% from the average session volume of 6,966,806 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. TD Securities upgraded shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.08.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $12.92 billion, a PE ratio of -139.83 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a current ratio of 7.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.81.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.12) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $21,969,816. 8.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.