MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 9.1% – Time to Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded up 9.1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $60.59 and last traded at $60.07. 8,372,674 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 26% from the average session volume of 6,671,400 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MP Materials presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.21.

MP Materials Trading Up 9.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 9.51 and a quick ratio of 8.56. The business has a 50 day moving average of $51.76 and a 200 day moving average of $56.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -176.67 and a beta of 1.88.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The business had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.13) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

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 acquired at an average price of $54.30 per share, with a total value of $543,000.00. Following the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 585,167 shares of company stock valued at $39,028,272. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials in the second quarter valued at about $1,543,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 260.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 385,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,580,000 after purchasing an additional 278,126 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $2,451,000. Phoenix Financial Ltd. bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $449,000. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,482,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently 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.