MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 5.1% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price traded down 5.1% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $48.96 and last traded at $49.5590. 4,001,135 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 6,634,401 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.21.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MP. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $79.54.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.33. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -121.07 and a beta of 1.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.12) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,512,565.26. This represents a 1.29% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. This trade represents a 2.03% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days, insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock worth $79,371,654. Insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MP. Costello Asset Management INC grew its position in MP Materials by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Composition Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in MP Materials by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in MP Materials by 1.0% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 21,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.