MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.9091.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MP shares. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at $821,758,774.05. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,020. The trade was a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $22,006,616 over the last three months. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd boosted its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in MP Materials by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,519,000 after purchasing an additional 459,213 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in MP Materials by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,325,000 after purchasing an additional 769,517 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $132,238,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in MP Materials by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,928,000 after purchasing an additional 378,510 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MP Materials Price Performance

NYSE MP opened at $51.22 on Tuesday. MP Materials has a 52 week low of $18.64 and a 52 week high of $100.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -98.50 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 6.67, a current ratio of 7.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $57.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.77.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.