MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 5.4% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded down 5.4% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $52.42 and last traded at $54.4970. 9,511,006 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 35% from the average session volume of 7,020,776 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on MP Materials in a report on Monday, June 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wedbush raised their target price on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.14.

MP Materials Trading Down 5.4%

The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.77. The company has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -129.75 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. This represents a 2.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, 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

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. increased its position in MP Materials by 555.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.