MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 1% – Here’s Why

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded down 1% during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $48.13 and last traded at $48.7860. 3,822,958 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 6,466,799 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on MP shares. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday, August 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.29.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $8.69 billion, a PE ratio of -143.48 and a beta of 1.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a current ratio of 9.51.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The business had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials during the second quarter worth approximately $1,543,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 260.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 385,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,580,000 after buying an additional 278,126 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $1,482,000. Myriad Asset Management Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $1,229,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 135.8% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 39,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,233,000 after buying an additional 22,958 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 that owns and operates the Mountain Pass rare earth mine and processing facility in California. The site is one of the largest rare earth production facilities in the Western Hemisphere and produces rare earth concentrate, with an emphasis on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-performance permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production into separated rare earth products and magnet manufacturing.