MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 46.1% - What's Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) shot up 46.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $48.12 and last traded at $43.86. 48,200,863 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 871% from the average session volume of 4,963,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.03.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MP. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on MP Materials from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on MP Materials from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up from $32.00) on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $28.06.

MP Materials Stock Up 51.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 4.12 and a quick ratio of 3.58. The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a PE ratio of -69.82 and a beta of 2.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.31 and a 200 day moving average of $24.46.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.02). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 48.41% and a negative return on equity of 9.77%. The company had revenue of $60.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.04) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 199,180 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.08, for a total transaction of $5,393,794.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 7.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,662,567 shares of the company's stock worth $333,503,000 after buying an additional 942,105 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 44.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,537,511 shares of the company's stock worth $101,986,000 after buying an additional 2,005,505 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 25.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,655,102 shares of the company's stock worth $64,811,000 after buying an additional 536,522 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 73.7% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,657,299 shares of the company's stock worth $40,455,000 after buying an additional 703,042 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.