MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 2.3% – Time to Sell?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) fell 2.3% on Tuesday. The company traded as low as $44.75 and last traded at $45.3950. 6,851,882 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 6% from the average session volume of 6,465,823 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.45.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MP. Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.42.

MP Materials Stock Down 4.4%

The company has a current ratio of 9.51, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a PE ratio of -132.55 and a beta of 1.94. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.41.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $108.49 million for 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%. MP Materials’s revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in MP Materials by 12.7% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 107.9% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 115,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,452,000 after acquiring an additional 59,783 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 5.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,773,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,408,000 after acquiring an additional 376,519 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 2.0% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 121,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,804,000 after acquiring an additional 2,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Institutional investors 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 produces rare earth concentrate, with a focus on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-strength permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production by developing domestic capabilities to separate rare earth elements and manufacture neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets.