Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on MP Materials from $71 to $62 while keeping an "overweight" rating, implying roughly a 13.6% upside from the current price.
• Despite the cut, the consensus remains a Buy with an average analyst price target of $78.09, supported by multiple buy and strong-buy ratings.
• Fundamentals are mixed: the company beat EPS estimates ($0.09) but missed revenue (down 13.6% YoY), has negative margins, and the CFO sold 46,000 shares for about $2.76M.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by Morgan Stanley from $71.00 to $62.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.57% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on MP. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MP Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $78.09.

MP Materials Stock Up 10.3%

Shares of MP Materials stock opened at $54.59 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -104.99 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a current ratio of 7.24. MP Materials has a one year low of $18.64 and a one year high of $100.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $56.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.55.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. MP Materials's quarterly revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.12) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that MP Materials will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Costello Asset Management INC grew its stake in MP Materials by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Composition Wealth LLC grew its stake in MP Materials by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the company's stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in MP Materials by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 806 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its stake in MP Materials by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 18,162 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,218,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in MP Materials by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,824 shares of the company's stock valued at $872,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is 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.

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