MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 6.9% – Still a Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price rose 6.9% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $25.50 and last traded at $24.66. Approximately 1,548,195 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average daily volume of 3,198,006 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.06.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price target on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.61.

MP Materials Trading Up 4.0 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $24.35 and a 200-day moving average of $20.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 6.13 and a current ratio of 6.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.63 and a beta of 2.24.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $60.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.71 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 8.44% and a negative net margin of 32.09%. As a group, equities analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total value of $405,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 214,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,799,924. This represents a 6.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 386,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total transaction of $9,273,214.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,643,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $375,590,254.76. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,130,835 shares of company stock worth $29,165,987. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in MP Materials by 3,618.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 140,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,426,000 after purchasing an additional 136,583 shares in the last quarter. Aegis Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $156,000. Pullen Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 31,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 7,590 shares in the last quarter. JT Stratford LLC lifted its stake in MP Materials by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 63,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $993,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 22,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp., together with its subsidiaries, produces rare earth materials. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth mine and processing facility in North America. It holds the mineral rights to the Mountain Pass mine and surrounding areas, as well as intellectual property rights related to the processing and development of rare earth minerals.