MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 3.3% – Time to Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price was down 3.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $48.57 and last traded at $49.4670. Approximately 4,220,781 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 7,354,743 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.17.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MP shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. TD Securities upgraded MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, William Blair reiterated 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, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a current ratio of 7.24. The company has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -95.13 and a beta of 1.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $57.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.77.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. On average, analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $22,006,616. 9.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in MP Materials by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 39,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,972,000 after purchasing an additional 17,708 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. WMS Group LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $557,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in MP Materials by 26,018.9% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 9,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 9,627 shares during the period. Finally, Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 59,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,000,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.