MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 6.2% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price fell 6.2% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $43.17 and last traded at $43.2970. 6,822,096 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 6% from the average daily volume of 6,413,006 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MP has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on MP Materials from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.00.

MP Materials Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $51.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 9.51 and a quick ratio of 8.56. The company has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -116.84 and a beta of 1.98.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The company had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.13) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.20 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in MP Materials by 5.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,773,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,408,000 after acquiring an additional 376,519 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $65,230,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in MP Materials by 32.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 919,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,355,000 after buying an additional 225,009 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 1.5% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 564,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,635,000 after buying an additional 8,556 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 32.5% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 509,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,562,000 after purchasing an additional 124,945 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp. is a rare earth materials company that owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and processing facility in California. The site produces rare earth concentrate, with a focus on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-strength permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production by developing domestic capabilities to separate rare earth elements and manufacture neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets.