MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 3% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded down 3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $52.98 and last traded at $53.9450. 5,535,147 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 6,846,262 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.62.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MP has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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 research report on Friday, May 8th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.14.

MP Materials Stock Down 3.0%

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -128.44 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued 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. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,176,275. This represents a 15.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock worth $79,371,654. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 26.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 234,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,716,000 after purchasing an additional 49,052 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $215,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $219,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in MP Materials by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in MP Materials by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 193,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,734,000 after buying an additional 51,348 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.