MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 1.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price traded down 1.5% during trading on Wednesday after Zacks Research downgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong sell rating. The stock traded as low as $58.32 and last traded at $59.28. 7,487,636 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 12% from the average session volume of 6,676,089 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.17.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wedbush lifted their price objective on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total value of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MP. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of MP Materials by 5,523.6% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 9,225,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,731,000 after purchasing an additional 9,061,633 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,531,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 71.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,220,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,307 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in MP Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $65,230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $51.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -174.12 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a current ratio of 9.51, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $108.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.13) EPS. Analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 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.