MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 7.5% – Should You Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price was down 7.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $52.08 and last traded at $53.2190. Approximately 8,861,434 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 15% from the average daily volume of 7,721,244 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MP shares. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Securities raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.92. The company has a current ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -97.36 and a beta of 1.55.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.07. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The business had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 346,000 shares of company stock worth $22,006,616 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the second quarter worth about $132,238,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 19,314.3% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,013,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,987,000 after acquiring an additional 2,003,091 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,531,000. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its position in MP Materials by 168.4% in the 3rd quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.