The DevEx Resources Ltd (ASX: DEV) share price had a tough day today despite no news from the company.

In fact, the company hasn’t released any price-sensitive announcements to the market for more than a month.

Yet the DevEx share price finished well in the red today, down 10.19% to 48.5 cents.

Let’s take a look at what might have weighed on the company’s shares today.

DevEx share price drops on Monday

DevEx is a mining exploration company digging for gold, copper, uranium, and other metals. The company’s major focus is its copper and gold discoveries in the Lachlan Fold Belt region of New South Wales. It also has interests in nickel-copper-PGE exploration in Julimar, Western Australia.

One clue as to the performance of the company’s share price today may lie in the broader performance of gold.

The S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold (ASX: XGD) index dropped 8.7% by market close today. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Materials (ASX: XMJ) index finished 0.13% higher.

DevEx’s last price-sensitive announcement to the market was back on 10 November. It was an update on the completion of two diamond drill holes at the Sovereign Nickel-Copper-PGE Project in Western Australia.

As the Motley Fool reported at the time, the discovery was well received by investors and led to them snapping up DevEx shares.

Since that time, the directors of the company have been involved in several share transactions.

According to company notices, most of the transactions carried out since 10 November were as a result of the exercise of options. However, two buy transactions by company chair Tim Goyder, worth a total of around $335,000, were on-market trades.

In total between 10 and 18 November, the company’s directors purchased more than $1.1 million worth of DevEx shares. Potentially, outside investors saw this as a vote of confidence in the company.

The only other news since then was the chairman’s address and AGM presentation on November 24.

Overall, the company reported a positive year including an increase in market capitalisation and positive developments on several exploration projects.

DevEx share price recap

Despite today’s plunge, the DevEx share price has rocketed 136% in the past 12 months and 111% year to date.

However, during the past month, the company’s shares have dropped by nearly 13% and 10% in the past week.

DevEx has a market capitalisation of nearly $152 million based on its current share price.

The post Why did the DevEx Resources share price plunge 10% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• How is the DevEx (ASX:DEV) share price climbing 42% so far this week?

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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If you’re interested in bolstering your portfolio with some blue chip ASX 200 shares, then you may want to consider the ones listed below.

Here’s what analysts are saying about these top blue chip shares:

ResMed Inc. (ASX: RMD)

ResMed could be an ASX 200 blue chip share to buy. It is a medical device company which has a focus on sleep treatment solutions.

Over the last decade the company’s revenue and earnings have grown at a very strong rate thanks to the quality of its products and its large and growing market opportunity. Pleasingly, due to its massive market opportunity in sleep apnoea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and home healthcare, ResMed looks well-placed to continue its growth long into the future.

Morgans is a fan of the company. It recently commented: “While we believe the next few quarters will likely be volatile, as COVID-related demand for ventilators continues to slow and core sleep apnoea volumes gradually lift, nothing changes our medium/longer term view that the company remains well-placed as it builds a unique, patient-centric, connected-care digital platform that addresses the main pinch points across the healthcare value chain.”

The broker has an add rating and $40.80 price target on ResMed’s shares.

Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN)

Another ASX 200 blue chip share to look at is Suncorp. It is one of Australia’s leading banking and insurance companies with a collection of popular brands. These include AAMI, Apia, Bingle, GIO, Shannons, Vero, and the eponymous Suncorp brand.

The team at Citi is positive on Suncorp despite concerns that its near term performance could be subdued.

Citi commented: “While we still see SUN as more of a medium term than shorter term story, our analysis suggests the current share price is a reasonable entry point even so. Largely to reflect lower impairment charges, we nudge up our FY22E EPS by 1% and retain our Buy call and A$12.80 TP.”

Citi has a buy rating and $12.80 price target on the company’s shares.

The post Why analysts love these ASX 200 blue chip shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended ResMed Inc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: LYC) share price has been a top 10 performer of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over the past 12 months. However, with the new year drawing closer investors are eyeing off what performance might look like for the year ahead.

Despite the rare earths mining company anticipating significant demand growth for the magnetic commodity, analysts are divided over the upside potential for the Lynas share price in the coming year.

Where could the Lynas share price be heading?

Let’s first take a look at the buy-side for the Lynas share price. At the beginning of the month Barrenjoey mining equity analyst, Daniel Morgan initiated coverage on the rare earth mining company.

According to the note, the Sydney-based broker has given the company an ‘overweight’ rating. Simultaneously, the broker labelled the Lynas share price with a target of $10.50.

However, not all analysts share in Morgan’s positive sentiment for the commodity-driven business. Instead, David Franklyn of Argonaut and Tim Serjeant of Eley Griffiths have stuck with a ‘hold’ rating. In an interview with Livewire in November, the fund managers were more reserved towards the Lynas share price due to its valuation.

Both agreed that the company’s Mount Weld mine is a strategic asset considering its position outside of China. However, neither Franklyn nor Serjeant could get past the fundamentals. At present, the company trades on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of approximately 50 times.

In addition, Serjeant believes pricing is now towards the upper end for neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), at around $100 per kilogram. From here, the fund manager sees little volume growth in the near term as ASX-listed Lynas goes through a capital heavy period.

This capital intensity being referred to is likely with regards to the development of the rare earths processing facility in Kalgoorlie. The project has been pencilled out to involve $500 million of investment before becoming operational in July 2023.

For those reasons, Franklyn and Serjeant are sticking with a hold rating.

The post What is the outlook for the Lynas (ASX:LYC) share price in 2022? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler owns Lynas Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price is off to a disappointing start this week. This comes despite the company not making any new announcements to the ASX.

At market close, the mining giant’s shares have slipped 0.72% on Monday to $41.10. But, regardless of the drop, the company’s shares have rebounded almost 13% in the past month.

What’s dragging BHP shares lower?

There are a couple of possible reasons as to why the BHP share price languished in negative territory today.

First and foremost, the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) spent most of the day in the red before rallying late in the day to close 0.13% up at 16,372.8 points. The sector represents 39 of the largest companies that specialise in mining, forestry products, and construction materials.

It appears generally negative sentiment on the company’s home sector is weighing down the BHP share price.

Fellow miner Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) also spent Monday well in the red before edging 0.24% in the green about twenty minutes before the close, finishing at $98.23 apiece.

In addition, another catalyst that may be affecting the BHP share price is that investors are holding around 8% of the company’s shares in short positions.

There’s belief that iron ore prices could give back their recent gains, which will put pressure on the company’s margins. This could potentially mean the world’s second-largest miner would miss its earnings targets set for FY22.

Currently, the spot price for iron ore is US$111.64 per tonne. And while it’s recovered from the 52-week lows of US$91.98 last month, there’s still a long way to go.

On a positive note, the company’s proposed acquisition of its petroleum business by Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) is on track. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) did not oppose the takeover.

The competition regulator commented:

We examined the proposed acquisition closely as it would combine two of the four largest domestic natural gas suppliers in Western Australia.

We found that post acquisition, Woodside would continue to face competition from a range of suppliers of domestic gas, including major producers Chevron and Santos, and from several other smaller suppliers including Shell and ExxonMobil. Woodside’s share of domestic gas after the acquisition will be approximately 20 per cent.

What do the brokers think?

A number of brokers updated their view on the BHP share price over the last week.

Analysts at Macquarie raised their price target by 2% to $52.00 for BHP shares. Swiss investment firm UBS had a more bearish tone, reducing its outlook by 3% to $37.00. It’s worth noting that this is almost in line with the current share price.

BHP share price summary

Since the beginning of the year, it has been a substandard result for BHP shares, falling by almost 5%. This is a stark contrast from when its shares were tracking more than 25% higher for the year-to-date period during August.

Based on today’s price, BHP presides a market capitalisation of roughly $121.2 billion and has approximately 2.95 billion shares outstanding.

The post Why is the BHP (ASX:BHP) share price having such a lousy start to the week? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares
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• Woodside (ASX:WPL) share price dips amid corporate watchdog’s mega-merger verdict
• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: CSL sinks, Qantas’ $1.1bn+ first half loss
• BHP (ASX:BHP) share price slips as ACCC gives all-clear for Woodside deal

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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