MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 1.2% Higher – What’s Next?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shot up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $58.52 and last traded at $54.42. Approximately 7,019,455 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 6,583,843 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MP. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.21.

MP Materials Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.39 and a 200-day moving average of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a current ratio of 9.51. The company has a market cap of $9.69 billion, a PE ratio of -160.05 and a beta of 1.94.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The company’s revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.13) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Rosenthal acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. The trade was a 7.90% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the second quarter worth about $1,543,000. Amundi raised its position in MP Materials by 260.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 385,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,580,000 after acquiring an additional 278,126 shares in the last quarter. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,451,000. Phoenix Financial Ltd. acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $449,000. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,482,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.