MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 4.6% Higher – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price traded up 4.6% on Monday . The company traded as high as $43.22 and last traded at $43.1840. Approximately 4,875,509 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 26% from the average daily volume of 6,553,220 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.42.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -102.82 and a beta of 1.86. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.18 and a quick ratio of 6.58.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.12) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at $8,176,275. The trade was a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 17,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $56.62 per share, with a total value of $962,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,512,565.26. This trade represents a 1.29% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837 in the last three months. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Costello Asset Management INC raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Composition Wealth LLC grew its position in MP Materials by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC grew its position in MP Materials by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,009,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its stake in MP Materials by 1.0% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 21,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in MP Materials by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.