MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 4.8% – Time to Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares dropped 4.8% on Monday. The company traded as low as $46.31 and last traded at $46.4640. Approximately 5,255,298 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 19% from the average daily volume of 6,460,043 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MP shares. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Freedom Broker started coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Monday, August 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.29.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $51.12 and a 200-day moving average of $55.50. The company has a current ratio of 9.51, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a PE ratio of -133.51 and a beta of 1.94.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The business had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.13) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MP. Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased its position in MP Materials by 73.3% in the 2nd quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 6,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 4.5% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $318,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. NFSG Corp boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 5,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp. is a rare earth materials company that owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and processing facility in California. The site produces rare earth concentrate, with a focus on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-strength permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production by developing domestic capabilities to separate rare earth elements and manufacture neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets.