MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 1.7% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price was up 1.7% during trading on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to an overweight rating. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now has a $74.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $75.00. MP Materials traded as high as $59.84 and last traded at $58.5070. Approximately 10,250,341 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 10,879,433 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.54.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on MP Materials from $64.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of MP Materials from $52.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.00.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal sold 150,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.02, for a total transaction of $10,803,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,284,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,503,136.18. The trade was a 10.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 9.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MP. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 28.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 806 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in MP Materials by 1.0% during the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 18,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,218,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $872,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 5,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Trading Up 1.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a current ratio of 8.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -82.40 and a beta of 2.26. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $69.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.78.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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.