MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 2.6% Following Analyst Downgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) dropped 2.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on the stock from $80.00 to $65.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. MP Materials traded as low as $44.49 and last traded at $46.0510. 6,801,199 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 5% from the average session volume of 6,459,638 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.29.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on MP. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a report on Monday, August 24th. Freedom Broker started coverage on MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $57.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.42.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased its position in MP Materials by 73.3% in the second quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Markowski Investments bought a new stake in MP Materials in the second quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Trading Down 2.6%

The company has a market cap of $8.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -135.44 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 9.51 and a quick ratio of 8.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $51.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.41.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The business had revenue of $108.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.13) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About MP Materials

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.