MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 3% – Here’s What Happened

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price was down 3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $52.98 and last traded at $53.9450. Approximately 5,535,147 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 6,846,262 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.62.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MP Materials has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.14.

MP Materials Trading Down 3.0%

The firm has a market cap of $9.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -128.44 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.18 and a quick ratio of 6.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $62.38 and a 200 day moving average of $59.55.

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

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,756,938.95. This represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at $8,176,275. The trade was 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock valued at $79,371,654. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. 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.