MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Reaches New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $73.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. MP Materials traded as low as $43.71 and last traded at $43.8490, with a volume of 1811366 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $45.68.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on MP. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, July 17th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.42.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,512,565.26. This represents a 1.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,176,275. This represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837 over the last quarter. 8.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 7.2% in the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in MP Materials by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,519,000 after purchasing an additional 459,213 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,325,000 after buying an additional 769,517 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after buying an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 71.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,220,000 after buying an additional 1,183,307 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $57.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.09. 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 firm has a market cap of $7.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -104.72 and a beta of 1.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced 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. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. MP Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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.