MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 2.3% After Analyst Downgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded down 2.3% during 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 $44.6080. 4,493,319 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 6,562,925 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.68.

MP has been the topic of several other research reports. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.42.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total value of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 10,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $54.30 per share, with a total value of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 905,167 shares of company stock worth $60,161,837. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $56.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.89. The company has a market capitalization of $7.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -98.25 and a beta of 1.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted 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 business 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%.MP Materials’s revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. On average, research analysts expect 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.