Barclays Cuts MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Price Target to $65.00

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) had its target price dropped by analysts at Barclays from $69.00 to $65.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 31.32% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on MP. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on MP Materials in a report on Monday, June 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.25.

MP Materials Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of MP opened at $49.50 on Thursday. MP Materials has a fifty-two week low of $44.43 and a fifty-two week high of $100.25. The company has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a PE ratio of -117.85 and a beta of 1.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 10,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at $803,461,973.72. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock worth $79,371,654. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. 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.