MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 1.4% After Analyst Downgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded down 1.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday 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 $45.37 and last traded at $45.6550. 3,985,217 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 6,577,801 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.30.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday. Wedbush increased their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In related 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, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,512,565.26. This represents a 1.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total value of $15,456,461.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,855,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,952,414.55. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MP. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth $82,531,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after buying an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 71.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,220,000 after buying an additional 1,183,307 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased 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 valued at $996,741,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in MP Materials by 1,320.8% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 954,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,934,000 after buying an additional 887,148 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.42 and a 200 day moving average of $59.12. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -108.70 and a beta of 1.86.

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

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.