Morgan Stanley Increases MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Price Target to $16.00

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $13.50 to $16.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 15.23% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of MP Materials from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on MP Materials from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Monday, July 15th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $16.50 target price for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of MP Materials from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.11.

MP Materials Price Performance

NYSE:MP opened at $13.89 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of -92.57 and a beta of 2.22. The company has a quick ratio of 6.17, a current ratio of 6.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.49. MP Materials has a 52 week low of $10.02 and a 52 week high of $20.85.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $31.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.03 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 21.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that MP Materials will post -0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MP Materials declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, September 3rd that permits the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 13.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 30,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $10.84 per share, with a total value of $325,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 1,402,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,208,249. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 12.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 153,700.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,537 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 3,803.8% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 3,956 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the second quarter worth about $72,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth about $100,000. Finally, Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 8,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.