MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 3.1% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded up 3.1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $62.30 and last traded at $62.01. 3,181,996 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 10,849,967 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.73.

MP Materials Stock Up 3.1%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.94. The firm has a market cap of $10.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -87.34 and a beta of 2.26. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 50.55% and a negative return on equity of 7.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased 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 acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,020,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $940,360,000 after purchasing an additional 363,975 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position 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 worth $100,928,000 after buying an additional 378,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

About MP Materials

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.