MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 5.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) fell 5.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $52.42 and last traded at $54.4970. 9,511,006 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 35% from the average session volume of 7,020,776 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Trading Up 7.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $10.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -136.32 and a beta of 1.86. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. MP Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.12) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total value of $12,802,446.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at $803,461,973.72. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at $8,176,275. This represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 1,251,167 shares of company stock worth $82,131,654 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,531,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in MP Materials by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in MP Materials by 71.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,307 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in MP Materials by 1,320.8% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 954,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,934,000 after purchasing an additional 887,148 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corporation operates as a vertically integrated producer of rare earth materials in North America. The company owns and manages the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in California, the only commercially viable rare earth mining and processing site in the United States. MP Materials extracts, separates and refines critical rare earth elements—such as neodymium, praseodymium, and cerium—which are essential inputs for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and various defense applications.

The Mountain Pass mine first began commercial rare earth production in the 1950s and was later operated by Molycorp until its bankruptcy in 2015.