MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 2.6% – Should You Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price traded down 2.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $58.81 and last traded at $60.6940. 4,101,849 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 9,899,734 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.34.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MP. Wall Street Zen downgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, November 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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 report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -85.48 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 8.05 and a quick ratio of 7.51.

Insider Activity

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was 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 owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at $9,399,960. This represents a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at $821,758,774.05. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 991,557 shares of company stock valued at $62,785,202. Company insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in MP Materials by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,519,000 after acquiring an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in MP Materials by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,928,000 after acquiring an additional 378,510 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in MP Materials by 76.3% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.