MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 1.7% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) rose 1.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $70.46 and last traded at $69.56. Approximately 7,751,184 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 10,056,289 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.37.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. Wall Street Zen cut MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Up 1.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a current ratio of 8.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -97.97 and a beta of 1.62.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 50.55% and a negative return on equity of 7.69%. MP Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at $9,399,960. This represents a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 991,557 shares of company stock worth $62,785,202 over the last quarter. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MP. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased 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 in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in MP Materials by 168.7% during the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 806 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Financial Consulate Inc. raised its stake in MP Materials by 555.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 181.3% in the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares in 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.