MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 1.3% – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) was down 1.3% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $46.80 and last traded at $47.2770. 7,539,759 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 14% from the average session volume of 6,614,245 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MP. Wall Street Zen cut MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Wedbush raised their price target on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.21.

MP Materials Stock Down 1.3%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $53.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.18 and a quick ratio of 6.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -112.56 and a beta of 1.88.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $108.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. Sell-side analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 905,167 shares of company stock worth $60,161,837 in the last ninety days. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $82,531,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in MP Materials by 71.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,307 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in MP Materials in the second quarter valued at about $65,230,000. Finally, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.