MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 3.2% – What’s Next?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) fell 3.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $55.60 and last traded at $56.6570. 4,712,308 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 6,683,710 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on MP Materials in a report on Friday, May 8th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.21.

MP Materials Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $10.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -166.63 and a beta of 1.88. The business’s fifty day moving average is $51.65 and its 200 day moving average is $57.00. The company has a current ratio of 9.51, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,512,565.26. The trade was a 1.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total value of $15,456,461.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,855,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,952,414.55. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 585,167 shares of company stock worth $39,028,272. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.