MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 1.5% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price dropped 1.5% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $58.32 and last traded at $59.28. 7,487,636 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the average session volume of 6,676,089 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.17.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen cut MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wedbush increased their price objective on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.21.

MP Materials Trading Down 1.5%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $51.81 and a 200-day moving average of $56.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a current ratio of 9.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -174.35 and a beta of 1.88.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 company had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.13) earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 10,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $54.30 per share, with a total value of $543,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This represents a 7.90% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $803,461,973.72. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 469,818 shares of company stock valued at $31,487,908. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 73.3% in the 2nd quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.