Brokerages Set MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Target Price at $78.21

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.2083.

A number of research firms have issued reports on MP. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Zacks Research cut shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Michael Rosenthal bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 $7,418,574.60. This represents a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 5,523.6% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 9,225,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,731,000 after purchasing an additional 9,061,633 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,325,000 after buying an additional 769,517 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in MP Materials by 71.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,220,000 after buying an additional 1,183,307 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MP Materials Stock Performance

MP stock opened at $54.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 9.51 and a quick ratio of 8.56. MP Materials has a 1 year low of $37.81 and a 1 year high of $100.25. The company has a market cap of $9.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -160.05 and a beta of 1.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $51.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.60.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted 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 company had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.13) earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current year.

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.