MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 3.4% – Time to Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares traded up 3.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $61.03 and last traded at $60.1690. 5,854,517 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 10,881,545 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.21.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MP shares. Cfra Research upgraded shares of MP Materials to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.73.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $10.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -87.34 and a beta of 2.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $67.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.94. The company has a current ratio of 8.05, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $53.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 248,411 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.86, for a total transaction of $15,863,526.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,369,665 shares in the company, valued at $853,786,806.90. This trade represents a 1.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.72, for a total transaction of $1,154,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 194,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,244,548.64. This represents a 9.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the second quarter worth about $132,238,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 19,314.3% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,013,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,987,000 after purchasing an additional 2,003,091 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 168.4% during the 3rd quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624,908 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the first quarter worth $34,288,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corp., together with its subsidiaries, produces rare earth materials. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth mine and processing facility in North America. It holds the mineral rights to the Mountain Pass mine and surrounding areas, as well as intellectual property rights related to the processing and development of rare earth minerals.