MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 2.1% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price was down 2.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $56.50 and last traded at $57.0080. Approximately 3,663,068 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 6,916,727 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.26.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MP shares. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on MP Materials in a report on Monday, June 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wedbush boosted their price target on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Trading Down 2.1%

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $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. The firm has a market cap of $10.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -135.73 and a beta of 1.86.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,176,275. This represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,620,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $803,461,973.72. The trade was a 1.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock valued at $79,371,654. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MP. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.