JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Price Target to $60.00

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) had its target price cut by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $75.00 to $60.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 52.04% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on MP. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on MP Materials in a report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.35.

MP Materials Price Performance

MP traded down $1.82 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,814,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,548,694. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -94.76 and a beta of 1.86. MP Materials has a twelve month low of $38.63 and a twelve month high of $100.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.63. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.12) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MP Materials will post 0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,418,574.60. The trade was a 7.90% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $803,461,973.72. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837 over the last quarter. 8.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MP. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MP Materials

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.