MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 6.9% – Should You Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price dropped 6.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $56.05 and last traded at $56.3960. Approximately 7,540,645 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 10,691,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.55.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -86.41 and a beta of 1.60. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 8.05 and a quick ratio of 7.51.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.The company had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.72 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at $9,399,960. This trade represents a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total value of $24,231,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,105,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $824,889,437.10. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 991,557 shares of company stock valued at $62,785,202 in the last 90 days. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 420.0% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new position in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% in the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the period. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 4,600.0% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. 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.