MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 4.5% – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price traded down 4.5% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $64.98 and last traded at $65.44. 3,997,907 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 7,005,717 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.55.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush increased their price target on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD Securities raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.14.

MP Materials Trading Down 9.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.18 and a quick ratio of 6.58. The company has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -140.96 and a beta of 1.86. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $60.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.75.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was 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 owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,512,565.26. This trade represents a 1.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,251,167 shares of company stock valued at $82,131,654. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $9,702,000. Polianta Ltd bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $1,227,000. South Dakota Investment Council bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,617,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 84.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 118,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,931,000 after purchasing an additional 54,031 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,505,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.