MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 2.5% – Should You Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares rose 2.5% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $56.25 and last traded at $56.1150. Approximately 3,294,880 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 6,791,949 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.74.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price target on the stock. Barclays started coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $69.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Stock Up 2.5%

The company has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -133.61 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.18 and a quick ratio of 6.58. The company’s 50-day moving average is $62.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.50.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This represents a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock valued at $79,371,654. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PVG Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,030,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 5.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in MP Materials by 102.5% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 16,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 8,557 shares during the period. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC raised its stake in MP Materials by 138.7% during the 1st quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 22,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after buying an additional 13,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BankChampaign National Association bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 1st quarter valued at $477,000. 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.