MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 6.9% After Analyst Upgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) shares were up 6.9% on Wednesday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $38.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. MP Materials traded as high as $39.10 and last traded at $37.93. Approximately 9,244,007 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 51% from the average daily volume of 6,126,690 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.48.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of MP Materials from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $27.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 199,180 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.08, for a total transaction of $5,393,794.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,643,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $369,454,498.08. The trade was a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 44.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,005,505 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials during the 1st quarter worth $34,288,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in MP Materials by 429.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,550,124 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,839,000 after buying an additional 1,257,282 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $14,886,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in MP Materials by 7.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,662,567 shares of the company's stock valued at $333,503,000 after buying an additional 942,105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company's stock.

MP Materials Stock Up 7.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.40 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 3.58 and a current ratio of 4.12. The business's 50 day moving average is $24.00 and its 200 day moving average is $22.69.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $60.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.74 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 48.41% and a negative return on equity of 9.77%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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