MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 9.6% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares were down 9.6% on Friday . The company traded as low as $58.65 and last traded at $59.2020. Approximately 7,946,600 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 13% from the average daily volume of 7,014,596 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.46.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.14.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a PE ratio of -140.96 and a beta of 1.86. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.76.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 50,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.58, for a total value of $3,229,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $762,429,219.70. The trade was a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was 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 directly owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,176,275. The trade was a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,066,000 shares of company stock worth $69,329,207. 8.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MP. Private Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $9,702,000. Polianta Ltd purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,227,000. South Dakota Investment Council acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the third quarter worth about $1,617,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 84.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 118,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,931,000 after purchasing an additional 54,031 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,505,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.