MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 2.4% – Time to Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price fell 2.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $37.57 and last traded at $38.5340. Approximately 5,901,665 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 6,379,960 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on MP. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research lowered shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on MP Materials from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.92.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $49.57 and its 200-day moving average is $54.22. 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 $6.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -112.68 and a beta of 1.98.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The firm had revenue of $108.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.13) earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.20 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 73.3% in the 2nd quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 2.0% during the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 3.7% during the first quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 6,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew 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 valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NFSG Corp increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 5.0% during the first quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 5,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corp. is a rare earth materials company focused on restoring and expanding a fully integrated rare earth supply chain in the United States. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass rare earth mine and processing facility in California, one of the largest rare earth production sites in the Western Hemisphere.

MP Materials primarily produces rare earth concentrate containing neodymium and praseodymium, elements used in high-strength permanent magnets. These magnets are important components in electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, defense systems, and other advanced technologies.