MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 6.9% – Here’s Why

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) were down 6.9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $58.28 and last traded at $62.3750. Approximately 17,179,695 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 59% from the average daily volume of 10,814,796 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.01.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MP. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, November 20th. William Blair assumed coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.85. The company has a market cap of $11.05 billion, a PE ratio of -87.85 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 8.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $53.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. Equities analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at $9,399,960. This trade represents a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total value of $24,231,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 13,105,965 shares in the company, valued at $824,889,437.10. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 991,557 shares of company stock worth $62,785,202 over the last 90 days. 12.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 7.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,519,000 after acquiring an additional 459,213 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the second quarter valued at $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 378,510 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in MP Materials by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.