MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 5.5% – Time to Sell?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) dropped 5.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $51.84 and last traded at $51.93. Approximately 14,196,975 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 31% from the average daily volume of 10,797,763 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.93.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $69.00 price target on MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Daiwa America raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on MP Materials from $64.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.80.

MP Materials Trading Down 5.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 3.60 and a quick ratio of 3.12. The company has a market cap of $9.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -82.43 and a beta of 2.26. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.27.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.02. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 9.34% and a negative net margin of 41.87%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.02, for a total transaction of $10,803,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,284,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,503,136.18. This represents a 10.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 9.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in MP Materials by 7.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,662,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,503,000 after purchasing an additional 942,105 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in MP Materials in the second quarter valued at about $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in MP Materials by 14.3% in the second 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. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in MP Materials by 76.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in MP Materials by 168.4% in the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624,908 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corp., together with its subsidiaries, produces rare earth materials. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth mine and processing facility in North America. It holds the mineral rights to the Mountain Pass mine and surrounding areas, as well as intellectual property rights related to the processing and development of rare earth minerals.