MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 4.7% – Time to Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price dropped 4.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $56.64 and last traded at $57.1890. Approximately 5,435,911 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 7,919,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. 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, MP Materials currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -109.98 and a beta of 1.55. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $61.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were 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 $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in MP Materials by 420.0% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.