MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Gap Down - Here's Why

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $35.99, but opened at $34.01. MP Materials shares last traded at $33.67, with a volume of 3,671,679 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MP. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on MP Materials from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. DA Davidson increased their price target on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of MP Materials from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $27.44.

MP Materials Trading Down 7.5%

The company has a current ratio of 4.12, a quick ratio of 3.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm's 50-day moving average is $25.57 and its 200-day moving average is $23.42. The firm has a market cap of $5.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.23 and a beta of 2.14.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.02). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 48.41% and a negative return on equity of 9.77%. The company had revenue of $60.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. MP Materials's revenue was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 199,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.08, for a total transaction of $5,393,794.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,643,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $369,454,498.08. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MP Materials by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,662,567 shares of the company's stock valued at $333,503,000 after buying an additional 942,105 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 44.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,537,511 shares of the company's stock valued at $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 2,005,505 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 25.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,655,102 shares of the company's stock worth $64,811,000 after buying an additional 536,522 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,432,389 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,945,000 after acquiring an additional 73,297 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in MP Materials by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,207,017 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,433,000 after acquiring an additional 176,121 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company's stock.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp., together with its subsidiaries, produces rare earth materials. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth mine and processing facility in North America. It holds the mineral rights to the Mountain Pass mine and surrounding areas, as well as intellectual property rights related to the processing and development of rare earth minerals.

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