MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $26.29 and last traded at $26.18, with a volume of 2250449 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $24.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of MP Materials from $19.50 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.45.

MP Materials Stock Up 10.5 %

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.12. The company has a current ratio of 6.93, a quick ratio of 6.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.65 and a beta of 2.32.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $60.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.71 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 32.09% and a negative return on equity of 8.44%. Equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 386,223 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,643,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $375,590,254.76. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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