MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 3.9% – Time to Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) dropped 3.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $60.58 and last traded at $60.8210. Approximately 5,256,341 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 26% from the average daily volume of 7,094,653 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.32.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MP. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Wedbush began coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.08.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a current ratio of 7.24. The company has a market capitalization of $10.81 billion, a PE ratio of -116.96 and a beta of 1.67. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.07. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The company had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,741,020. The trade was a 26.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $21,969,816 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd raised its position in MP Materials by 7.2% during the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in MP Materials by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,519,000 after acquiring an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in MP Materials by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,597,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,325,000 after acquiring an additional 769,517 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in MP Materials by 76.3% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in MP Materials by 71.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,220,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,307 shares during the last quarter. 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.