MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 1.4% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) were down 1.4% during trading on Wednesday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $73.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. MP Materials traded as low as $45.37 and last traded at $45.6550. Approximately 3,985,217 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 6,577,801 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.30.

MP has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.68.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total transaction of $15,456,461.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,855,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,952,414.55. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months, insiders sold 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,531,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased 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 buying an additional 1,183,307 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased 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 buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in MP Materials by 1,320.8% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 954,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,934,000 after buying an additional 887,148 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MP Materials Stock Down 1.4%

The stock has a market cap of $8.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -108.70 and a beta of 1.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.12. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.12) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.