MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 2.7% – Time to Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares rose 2.7% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $50.34 and last traded at $49.7010. Approximately 4,642,172 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 7,455,802 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.41.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MP shares. TD Securities upgraded shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Down 0.1%

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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -95.58 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $57.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.98.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $52.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at $821,758,774.05. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 39,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,972,000 after acquiring an additional 17,708 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. WMS Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $557,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in MP Materials by 26,018.9% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 9,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 9,627 shares during the period. Finally, Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 59,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,000,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently 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.