MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 4.1% – Should You Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price traded down 4.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $51.24 and last traded at $51.5420. 3,805,751 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 7,535,104 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $9.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -99.12 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 6.67.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The business’s revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.12) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 346,000 shares of company stock worth $22,006,616 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 420.0% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired 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 in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.