MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 4.7% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded up 4.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $61.66 and last traded at $60.84. 5,885,838 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 10,804,922 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.10.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Cfra Research raised MP Materials to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Daiwa America upgraded MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.73.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 8.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $67.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.96. The company has a market capitalization of $10.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -85.69 and a beta of 1.70.

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

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.72, for a total transaction of $1,154,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer 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. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 248,411 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 13,369,665 shares in the company, valued at $853,786,806.90. This represents a 1.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd boosted its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% in the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 2.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,020,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $940,360,000 after acquiring an additional 363,975 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,928,000 after purchasing an additional 378,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in MP Materials by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.