MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 3.6% - Here's What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 3.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $36.91 and last traded at $36.67. 2,324,775 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 4,599,171 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. DA Davidson raised their target price on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of MP Materials from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.06.

MP Materials Price Performance

The business's 50-day simple moving average is $25.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.32. The company has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -55.13 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a current ratio of 4.12, a quick ratio of 3.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.02). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 9.77% and a negative net margin of 48.41%. The firm had revenue of $60.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. MP Materials's revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 199,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.08, for a total value of $5,393,794.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,643,076 shares in the company, valued at $369,454,498.08. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 9.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in MP Materials by 7.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,662,567 shares of the company's stock valued at $333,503,000 after purchasing an additional 942,105 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 44.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,537,511 shares of the company's stock valued at $101,986,000 after buying an additional 2,005,505 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,655,102 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,811,000 after buying an additional 536,522 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,432,389 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,945,000 after buying an additional 73,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in MP Materials by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,207,017 shares of the company's stock worth $34,433,000 after buying an additional 176,121 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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