MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 2.7% Higher – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price shot up 2.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $51.38 and last traded at $50.8490. 3,039,457 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 6,608,296 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush raised 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on MP Materials in a report on Monday, June 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MP Materials has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.54.

MP Materials Stock Up 2.7%

The stock has a market cap of $9.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -121.07 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.35.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The firm’s revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock worth $79,371,654. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $82,531,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after buying an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 71.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,220,000 after buying an additional 1,183,307 shares during the period. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% in the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 1,320.8% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 954,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,934,000 after buying an additional 887,148 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.