MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Down 3% - What's Next?

Key Points

• MP Materials shares fell 3% in mid-day trading, hitting an intraday low of $54.25 and trading below the prior close of $56.01 on lighter-than-usual volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with multiple firms raising price targets; MP Materials now has an average Buy rating and an average target price of $80.14.
• The company recently posted a quarterly earnings beat, but insider selling has been notable, including share sales by the CFO and CEO and over 1.2 million shares sold by insiders in the last quarter.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report)'s stock price dropped 3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $54.25 and last traded at $54.3150. Approximately 3,109,279 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 6,762,708 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wedbush raised their target price on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC started coverage on MP Materials in a report on Monday, June 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $80.14.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The firm's fifty day moving average price is $62.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.48. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $9.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -129.32 and a beta of 1.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $74.82 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock worth $79,371,654. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 234,185 shares of the company's stock worth $5,716,000 after acquiring an additional 49,052 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials in the first quarter valued at about $215,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials in the first quarter valued at about $219,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in MP Materials by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,793 shares of the company's stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in MP Materials by 36.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 193,943 shares of the company's stock worth $4,734,000 after purchasing an additional 51,348 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company's stock.

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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