MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 2.3% on Analyst Downgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded down 2.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $73.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. MP Materials traded as low as $43.71 and last traded at $44.6080. Approximately 4,493,319 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 6,562,925 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.68.

MP has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wedbush increased their price objective on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $54.30 per share, with a total value of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at $7,418,574.60. This represents a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at $8,176,275. This represents a 15.50% 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 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837 over the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,702,000. Polianta Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,227,000. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,184,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,451,000. Finally, Phoenix Financial Ltd. bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $449,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $56.74 and a 200 day moving average of $59.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The firm has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -106.21 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 firm had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 EPS for the current 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.