MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 5.5% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) fell 5.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $57.50 and last traded at $58.75. 10,364,364 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 10,795,735 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.16.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MP shares. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. William Blair began coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 8.05 and a quick ratio of 7.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $59.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.83. The company has a market capitalization of $10.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -82.75 and a beta of 1.62.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 13,105,965 shares in the company, valued at $824,889,437.10. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,399,960. The trade was a 19.58% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 991,557 shares of company stock worth $62,785,202 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MP. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in MP Materials during the second quarter worth approximately $132,238,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 19,314.3% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,013,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,987,000 after acquiring an additional 2,003,091 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 168.4% in the 3rd quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624,908 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. Finally, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% during the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.