MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 2.1% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price rose 2.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $61.16 and last traded at $59.8460. Approximately 9,706,137 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 26% from the average daily volume of 7,712,756 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, November 14th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 8.05, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $57.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.36. The stock has a market cap of $10.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -84.29 and a beta of 1.62.

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

Insider Activity at MP Materials

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 5,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. Commons Capital LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,357,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,820,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $260,000. Finally, Mirova raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 66.2% during the third quarter. Mirova now owns 62,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,223,000 after purchasing an additional 25,071 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.