MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 3.2% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price traded down 3.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $55.60 and last traded at $56.6570. Approximately 4,712,308 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 6,683,710 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on MP shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wedbush upped their target price on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.21.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a current ratio of 9.51. The stock has a market cap of $10.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -166.63 and a beta of 1.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.00.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The company had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.13) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total value of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $803,461,973.72. The trade was a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 585,167 shares of company stock valued at $39,028,272. 8.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 234,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,716,000 after buying an additional 49,052 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the first quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 1st quarter worth approximately $219,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in MP Materials by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 193,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,734,000 after purchasing an additional 51,348 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by 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.