Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $81.00 to $73.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 58.25% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on MP. Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.68.

MP Materials Stock Up 0.9%

MP Materials stock opened at $46.13 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.21 billion, a PE ratio of -109.83 and a beta of 1.86. MP Materials has a 12-month low of $43.82 and a 12-month high of $100.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $57.42 and its 200 day moving average is $59.12. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Insider Activity

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $56.62 per share, with a total value of $962,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,512,565.26. The trade was a 1.29% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total transaction of $15,456,461.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,855,965 shares in the company, valued at $780,952,414.55. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 905,167 shares of company stock worth $60,161,837 over the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in MP Materials by 26.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 234,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,716,000 after buying an additional 49,052 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the 1st quarter valued at $215,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the 1st quarter valued at $219,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 193,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,734,000 after acquiring an additional 51,348 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About MP Materials

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.