MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 8% on Analyst Downgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price was down 8% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $69.00 to $65.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. MP Materials traded as low as $44.45 and last traded at $45.5050. 9,243,701 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 40% from the average session volume of 6,606,997 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.46.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MP. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MP Materials currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In related news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $56.62 per share, with a total value of $962,540.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,512,565.26. This represents a 1.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,756,938.95. This represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 1,164,346 shares of company stock worth $76,757,068 in the last quarter. 8.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

More MP Materials News

Here are the key news stories impacting MP Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays kept an “overweight” rating on MP Materials while trimming its price target to $65 from $69, signaling continued confidence in the company’s upside despite near-term volatility.
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent analyst writeups highlighted MP’s improving operating performance, strong liquidity, and alignment with the U.S. push to build a domestic rare-earth supply chain, which could support longer-term growth.
• Positive Sentiment: MP Materials announced it will report second-quarter 2026 financial results after the market close on August 6, with a webcast to follow. Investors may see this as a potential near-term catalyst if the company shows further progress on production and downstream scale-up. MP Materials Announces Date for Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Webcast
• Neutral Sentiment: Brokerage coverage continues to show an average “Buy” recommendation, suggesting analysts remain constructive overall, but not enough to offset current investor concerns.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary focused on MP’s rare-earth scale-up plans, execution challenges, cost pressures, and customer concentration risk. These factors reinforce the long-term story but also make results more sensitive to operational missteps.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple articles questioned whether MP stock is now too expensive relative to its execution risk, with analysts warning that the premium valuation may leave less room for error.
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays’ price-target cut from $69 to $65 may have added to the cautious tone around the stock, even though the firm still has a positive rating.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. 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. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $58.68 and its 200 day moving average is $59.23. 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 stock has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a PE ratio of -108.35 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 net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.12) earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.