MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 6.9% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares were down 6.9% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $56.05 and last traded at $56.3960. Approximately 7,540,645 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 10,691,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.55.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, November 14th. William Blair began coverage on MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Down 6.9%

The stock has a market cap of $10.00 billion, a PE ratio of -79.43 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.96. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 8.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at $9,399,960. This represents a 19.58% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 991,557 shares of company stock valued at $62,785,202 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth about $132,238,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 19,314.3% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,013,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,987,000 after acquiring an additional 2,003,091 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 168.4% in the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624,908 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.