MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 4.1% – Time to Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded down 4.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $51.24 and last traded at $51.5420. 3,805,751 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 7,535,104 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.74.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MP. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Securities upgraded MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.51. The company has a market capitalization of $9.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -99.73 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a current ratio of 7.24.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $52.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.12) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $821,758,774.05. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 346,000 shares of company stock worth $22,006,616 in the last 90 days. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of MP Materials by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,519,000 after buying an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in MP Materials by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,325,000 after acquiring an additional 769,517 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in MP Materials in the second quarter worth about $132,238,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in MP Materials by 14.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,928,000 after acquiring an additional 378,510 shares during the period. 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.