MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 7.5% - What's Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) traded up 7.5% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $22.04 and last traded at $22.03. 2,358,034 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 3,860,462 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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 upped their price target on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MP Materials from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded MP Materials from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $25.61.

MP Materials Trading Up 5.2%

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.84 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 6.13 and a current ratio of 6.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.07 and a 200-day moving average of $22.14.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 32.09% and a negative return on equity of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $60.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.74 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.04) earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 489,918 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total transaction of $13,115,104.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,153,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $405,650,039.66. This trade represents a 3.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total value of $405,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 214,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,799,924. This represents a 6.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 943,792 shares of company stock valued at $25,286,567. 9.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in MP Materials by 119,900.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,200 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management increased its stake in MP Materials by 132.7% in the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,403 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in MP Materials by 40.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,441 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.