MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Price Target Cut to $66.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $73.00 to $66.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 43.14% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on MP. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of MP Materials from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.00.

MP Materials Trading Down 5.0%

Shares of MP traded down $2.42 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.11. The company had a trading volume of 1,402,923 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,402,533. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.09. The company has a quick ratio of 8.56, a current ratio of 9.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. MP Materials has a 1-year low of $37.81 and a 1-year high of $100.25. The stock has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a PE ratio of -136.00 and a beta of 1.98.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The firm had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.13) earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that MP Materials will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $65,230,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,773,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,408,000 after acquiring an additional 376,519 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in MP Materials by 260.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 385,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,580,000 after purchasing an additional 278,126 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 32.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 919,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,355,000 after purchasing an additional 225,009 shares during the period. Finally, Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials in the second quarter worth $10,648,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp. is a rare earth materials company that owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and processing facility in California. The site produces rare earth concentrate, with a focus on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-strength permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production by developing domestic capabilities to separate rare earth elements and manufacture neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets.