MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.61.

MP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.51, for a total transaction of $1,530,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 230,100 shares in the company, valued at $5,869,851. This represents a 20.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 489,918 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 15,153,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $405,650,039.66. This trade represents a 3.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 943,792 shares of company stock valued at $25,286,567. Insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake 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 valued at $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 2,005,505 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,288,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,886,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $333,503,000 after purchasing an additional 942,105 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake 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 valued at $64,811,000 after purchasing an additional 536,522 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of MP Materials stock opened at $21.32 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.94. The company has a current ratio of 6.93, a quick ratio of 6.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. MP Materials has a twelve month low of $10.02 and a twelve month high of $29.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.14 and a beta of 2.24.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $60.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.74 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 8.44% and a negative net margin of 32.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that MP Materials will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.