MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 4% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded up 4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $69.46 and last traded at $67.02. 8,522,939 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 20% from the average session volume of 7,090,574 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.46.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. TD Securities upgraded MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.08.

MP Materials Trading Up 4.0%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.75 and a 200-day moving average of $59.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -159.57 and a beta of 1.90.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.12) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,756,938.95. This trade represents a 2.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $56.62 per share, with a total value of $962,540.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares in the company, valued at $75,512,565.26. This represents a 1.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 666,000 shares of company stock valued at $43,103,382. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MP. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.