MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $29.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. MP Materials traded as high as $27.29 and last traded at $26.80, with a volume of 2691828 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $26.83.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.61.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 161,175 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total value of $4,342,054.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,352,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $386,661,441.66. This trade represents a 1.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $405,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 214,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,799,924. This trade represents a 6.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,112,316 shares of company stock worth $28,665,974. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Aegis Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $156,000. Pullen Investment Management LLC increased its stake in MP Materials by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 31,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 7,590 shares during the period. JT Stratford LLC increased its stake in MP Materials by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 63,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $993,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Delta Investment Management LLC increased its stake in MP Materials by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 22,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 767 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,524,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.44 and a beta of 2.32. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.60.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $60.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.71 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 32.09% and a negative return on equity of 8.44%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.