MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 4.7% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares were down 4.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $50.26 and last traded at $50.6280. Approximately 8,276,055 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 7% from the average daily volume of 7,724,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MP shares. Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Down 4.7%

The stock has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -97.36 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 6.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.07.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.07. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The business had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 346,000 shares of company stock worth $22,006,616 in the last three months. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in MP Materials by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 39,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,972,000 after purchasing an additional 17,708 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. WMS Group LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $557,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 26,018.9% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 9,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 9,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sit Investment Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 59,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,000,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.