MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 5.9% – Still a Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares traded up 5.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $48.48 and last traded at $48.2870. 7,156,470 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 5% from the average session volume of 7,543,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MP. TD Securities raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Up 5.9%

The company has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -92.86 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 6.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $59.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.38.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The business had revenue of $52.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. MP Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 346,000 shares of company stock worth $22,006,616 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in MP Materials by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. raised 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. 52.55% of the stock is owned by 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.