MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $58.51, but opened at $62.00. MP Materials shares last traded at $64.8950, with a volume of 9,148,892 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on MP Materials from $64.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $69.00 price objective on MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cfra Research raised shares of MP Materials to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.82.

MP Materials Trading Up 9.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 8.05 and a quick ratio of 7.51. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -89.36 and a beta of 2.26.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 50.55% and a negative return on equity of 7.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.02, for a total value of $10,803,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 1,284,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,503,136.18. This represents a 10.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 12.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $568,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 99.7% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 10,138 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 103,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,532,000 after buying an additional 15,009 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in MP Materials by 16.5% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 47.8% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.