MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Falls 5.8% – Time to Sell?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares traded down 5.8% on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $31.90 and last traded at $33.82. 15,601,376 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 145% from the average session volume of 6,364,885 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.91.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MP shares. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Freedom Broker started coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $57.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.92.

MP Materials Trading Down 5.8%

The company has a quick ratio of 8.56, a current ratio of 9.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $46.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.78. The company has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -99.47 and a beta of 2.05.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.06. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The company had revenue of $147.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.37 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MP. State Street Corp lifted its stake in MP Materials by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,773,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,408,000 after acquiring an additional 376,519 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in MP Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $65,230,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $44,355,000 after acquiring an additional 225,009 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 763,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,087,000 after acquiring an additional 157,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 564,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,635,000 after acquiring an additional 8,556 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp. is a rare earth materials company focused on restoring and expanding a fully integrated rare earth supply chain in the United States. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass rare earth mine and processing facility in California, one of the largest rare earth production sites in the Western Hemisphere.

MP Materials primarily produces rare earth concentrate containing neodymium and praseodymium, elements used in high-strength permanent magnets. These magnets are important components in electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, defense systems, and other advanced technologies.