MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 3.7% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares shot up 3.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $54.47 and last traded at $53.96. 9,003,951 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 10,577,746 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MP shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen cut MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets initiated coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Trading Up 3.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 8.05 and a quick ratio of 7.51. The company has a market capitalization of $9.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -76.00 and a beta of 1.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $63.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.85.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,399,960. This trade represents a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total value of $24,231,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 13,105,965 shares in the company, valued at $824,889,437.10. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 691,557 shares of company stock worth $43,538,586. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $132,238,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in 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 worth $66,987,000 after buying an additional 2,003,091 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,624,908 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $34,288,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,264,243 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.