MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 4.9% Higher - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• MP Materials shares rose 4.9% to about $60.25, with roughly 5.2 million shares traded. The company has a market capitalization of approximately $10.7 billion.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: the stock has a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $78.21, though targets range from $65 to $100 and one analyst downgraded the shares to “Sell.”
• MP Materials reported quarterly revenue of $108.5 million, up 89% year over year and above estimates, while earnings per share matched expectations at a loss of $0.01. Insider activity was mixed, with an executive buying shares while the CEO sold approximately $12.8 million worth.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) rose 4.9% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $60.34 and last traded at $60.2540. Approximately 5,225,576 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 22% from the average daily volume of 6,670,876 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on MP shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Monday. Citigroup reissued a "positive" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MP Materials from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.21.

MP Materials Stock Up 4.9%

The company has a current ratio of 9.51, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.73 billion, a PE ratio of -177.21 and a beta of 1.88.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The firm had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.13) earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $54.30 per share, with a total value of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. The trade was a 7.90% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 585,167 shares of company stock valued at $39,028,272 in the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MP. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials during the second quarter valued at $1,543,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of MP Materials by 260.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 385,001 shares of the company's stock worth $18,580,000 after buying an additional 278,126 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $2,451,000. Phoenix Financial Ltd. bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $449,000. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $1,482,000. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company's stock.

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.

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