MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.0769.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MP. TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. This trade represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 666,000 shares of company stock valued at $43,103,382. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MP. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% in the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of MP opened at $67.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -159.57 and a beta of 1.90. MP Materials has a twelve month low of $18.64 and a twelve month high of $100.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $58.95 and a 200-day moving average of $59.33. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MP Materials will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.