MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 3% – Should You Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price was down 3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $54.25 and last traded at $54.3150. Approximately 3,109,279 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 6,762,708 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, June 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.14.

MP Materials Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -126.84 and a beta of 1.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.12) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,176,275. This represents a 15.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This represents a 7.90% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock valued at $79,371,654. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,519,000 after purchasing an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in MP Materials by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,325,000 after purchasing an additional 769,517 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in MP Materials by 71.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,307 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

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.