MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 2.6% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price was down 2.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $62.17 and last traded at $63.8520. Approximately 6,285,254 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average daily volume of 7,012,089 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MP shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wedbush increased their price target on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $81.00.

MP Materials Trading Up 1.7%

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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.36. The firm has a market cap of $10.90 billion, a PE ratio of -146.07 and a beta of 1.90.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted 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 business had revenue of $90.65 million for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. Analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 177,188 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total transaction of $11,540,254.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,205,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $794,974,500.45. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $8,176,275. The trade was a 15.50% decrease in their position. 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 666,000 shares of company stock worth $43,103,382. 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 stock. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Composition Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 28.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 806 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 4.7% in the third quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARS Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,009,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.