MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 2.3% – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares traded down 2.3% during trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $44.75 and last traded at $45.3950. 6,851,882 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 6% from the average daily volume of 6,465,823 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.45.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.29.

MP Materials Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $51.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.61. The company has a current ratio of 9.51, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.08 billion, a PE ratio of -133.51 and a beta of 1.94.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The company had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.13) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MP. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in MP Materials by 12.7% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in MP Materials by 107.9% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 115,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,452,000 after acquiring an additional 59,783 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 5.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,773,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,408,000 after acquiring an additional 376,519 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 2.0% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 121,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,804,000 after acquiring an additional 2,411 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth about $220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp. is a rare earth materials company that owns and operates the Mountain Pass rare earth mine and processing facility in California. The site is one of the largest rare earth production facilities in the Western Hemisphere and produces rare earth concentrate, with an emphasis on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-performance permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production into separated rare earth products and magnet manufacturing.