MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 7.5% – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price traded down 7.5% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $55.05 and last traded at $56.7030. 9,064,835 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 28% from the average session volume of 7,055,183 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.27.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -134.01 and a beta of 1.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.20. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at $800,756,938.95. This trade represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 666,000 shares of company stock worth $43,103,382 over the last three months. Insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the third quarter worth about $670,000. Private Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,702,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $550,000. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,089,000. Finally, Polianta Ltd bought a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,227,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently 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.