MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) reached a new 52-week high 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 changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $26.83.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on MP. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on MP Materials from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.61.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 489,918 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total value of $13,115,104.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,153,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $405,650,039.66. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total value of $405,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 214,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,799,924. The trade was a 6.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,112,316 shares of company stock valued at $28,665,974 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position 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 worth $101,986,000 after buying an additional 2,005,505 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in MP Materials by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,432,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,945,000 after purchasing an additional 73,297 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in MP Materials by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,207,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,433,000 after purchasing an additional 176,121 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in MP Materials by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,118,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,050,000 after purchasing an additional 7,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,079,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,843,000 after buying an additional 144,661 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of -43.75 and a beta of 2.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $23.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.69. The company has a quick ratio of 6.13, a current ratio of 6.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $60.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.71 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 8.44% and a negative net margin of 32.09%. Analysts expect 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.