MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 6.9% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares dropped 6.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $56.05 and last traded at $56.3960. Approximately 7,540,645 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 10,691,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MP. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, November 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 8.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $59.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.96. The stock has a market cap of $10.00 billion, a PE ratio of -79.43 and a beta of 1.60.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total transaction of $24,231,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 13,105,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $824,889,437.10. This trade represents a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at $9,399,960. This trade represents a 19.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 991,557 shares of company stock worth $62,785,202. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Costello Asset Management INC increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Composition Wealth LLC grew its position in MP Materials by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in MP Materials by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its stake in MP Materials by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 18,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,218,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 1.7% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $872,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.