MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 2.3% on Analyst Downgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price fell 2.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $73.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. MP Materials traded as low as $43.71 and last traded at $44.6080. 4,493,319 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 6,562,925 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.68.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This represents a 7.90% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $57.05 and a 200-day moving average of $59.09. The firm has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -106.21 and a beta of 1.86. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.