MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 1.5% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) rose 1.5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $62.98 and last traded at $61.9810. Approximately 9,132,701 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average daily volume of 9,044,130 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.06.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MP shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Daiwa Capital Markets initiated coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Up 1.5%

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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.98 billion, a PE ratio of -87.30 and a beta of 1.62.

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

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,399,960. The trade was a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 964,157 shares of company stock valued at $61,031,328 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital CS Group LLC lifted its position in MP Materials by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital CS Group LLC now owns 10,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $515,000 after acquiring an additional 4,222 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 28,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,416,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $149,000. Covea Finance acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth $4,178,000. Finally, Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. grew its stake in MP Materials by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 6,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.