MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 1.7% – Should You Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares fell 1.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $53.29 and last traded at $53.4020. 6,410,855 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 7,016,099 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.30.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MP. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.14.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.70. 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 company has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -127.15 and a beta of 1.86.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at $7,741,020. The trade was a 26.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 1,251,167 shares of company stock worth $82,131,654 in the last quarter. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.