MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $23.99, but opened at $26.00. MP Materials shares last traded at $23.70, with a volume of 966,341 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MP has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MP Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.61.

MP Materials Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $24.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -39.76 and a beta of 2.24. The company has a quick ratio of 6.13, a current ratio of 6.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $60.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.71 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 32.09% and a negative return on equity of 8.44%. Analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 386,223 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total value of $9,273,214.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,643,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $375,590,254.76. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 15,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $405,000.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,130,835 shares of company stock worth $29,165,987 in the last ninety days. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in MP Materials by 44.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,537,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 2,005,505 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $14,886,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $6,284,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,019,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,524,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.