MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 3.4% Higher – Still a Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) rose 3.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $69.65 and last traded at $68.96. Approximately 6,707,948 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 9,681,343 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.70.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Bank of America boosted their price target on MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Trading Up 3.4%

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $58.23 and a 200 day moving average of $62.57. 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 stock has a market cap of $12.22 billion, a PE ratio of -97.13 and a beta of 1.62.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $53.55 million during 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 quarterly revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.12) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 156,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,399,960. This represents a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 991,557 shares of company stock worth $62,785,202 over the last ninety days. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 363,975 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in MP Materials by 14.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,928,000 after acquiring an additional 378,510 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 76.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.