MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 4% Higher – Should You Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price was up 4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $69.46 and last traded at $67.02. Approximately 8,522,939 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 20% from the average daily volume of 7,090,574 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.46.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MP shares. TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.08.

MP Materials Trading Up 2.4%

The firm has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a PE ratio of -159.03 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $59.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.48.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The business had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 177,188 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total value of $11,540,254.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,205,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $794,974,500.45. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 17,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,512,565.26. This trade represents a 1.29% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 666,000 shares of company stock valued at $43,103,382. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% in the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,519,000 after purchasing an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,325,000 after purchasing an additional 769,517 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 71.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,307 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.