MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $28.00 and last traded at $26.03, with a volume of 381075 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $24.82.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MP shares. DA Davidson lifted 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.61.

MP Materials Trading Down 7.3 %

The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.98 and a beta of 2.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.55. 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 (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $60.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.71 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 8.44% and a negative net margin of 32.09%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 386,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total transaction of $9,273,214.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,643,076 shares in the company, valued at $375,590,254.76. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. 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 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.51, for a total value of $1,530,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 230,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,869,851. The trade was a 20.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,130,835 shares of company stock worth $29,165,987 in the last ninety days. 12.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JT Stratford LLC lifted its position in MP Materials by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 63,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $993,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in MP Materials by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SWS Partners raised its position in MP Materials by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. SWS Partners now owns 162,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,535,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.