MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Sets New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday after Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from a hold rating to a sell rating. The stock traded as low as $43.71 and last traded at $43.8490, with a volume of 1811366 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $45.68.

MP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.42.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at $8,176,275. The trade was a 15.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,512,565.26. This represents a 1.29% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837 in the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 234,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,716,000 after purchasing an additional 49,052 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 1st quarter worth about $215,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 1st quarter worth about $219,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in MP Materials by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in MP Materials by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 193,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,734,000 after buying an additional 51,348 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MP Materials Stock Down 7.6%

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.89. The firm has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -98.25 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.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MP Materials Company Profile

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.