MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 5.5% – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares dropped 5.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $56.58 and last traded at $57.23. Approximately 6,624,593 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 9,788,421 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.58.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment 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 company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -80.61 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 8.05 and a quick ratio of 7.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 156,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,399,960. This represents a 19.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 991,557 shares of company stock valued at $62,785,202 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. Sprott Inc. grew its holdings in MP Materials by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 59,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,016,000 after purchasing an additional 9,520 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 101,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,141,000 after buying an additional 4,760 shares during the last quarter. Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $1,311,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $3,188,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in MP Materials by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 212,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,711,000 after acquiring an additional 52,087 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.