MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 1.7% – What’s Next?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $53.29 and last traded at $53.4020. 6,410,855 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 7,016,099 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Trading Up 0.9%

The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -137.37 and a beta of 1.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.12) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,251,167 shares of company stock valued at $82,131,654. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in MP Materials by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in MP Materials by 102.5% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 16,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $816,000 after buying an additional 8,557 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC grew its stake in MP Materials by 138.7% during the 1st quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 22,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,089,000 after buying an additional 13,109 shares during the last quarter. BankChampaign National Association purchased a new position in MP Materials during the 1st quarter worth $477,000. Finally, Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in MP Materials during the 1st quarter worth $1,034,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.