MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 2.2% – Should You Sell?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) fell 2.2% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $60.75 and last traded at $61.1280. 9,282,073 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 2% from the average session volume of 9,113,234 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MP. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. Bank of America lifted their target price on MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Trading Up 1.5%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $57.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.70. The company has a market cap of $10.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -87.30 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 8.05, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.05. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 50.55% and a negative return on equity of 7.69%. The business had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.72 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,288,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at $9,399,960. This trade represents a 19.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total transaction of $24,231,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,105,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $824,889,437.10. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 964,157 shares of company stock worth $61,031,328. 9.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MP. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,020,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $940,360,000 after acquiring an additional 363,975 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in MP Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,928,000 after purchasing an additional 378,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% during the 2nd 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. 52.55% of the stock is 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.