MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 5% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• MP stock fell about 5% to roughly $61.66 on Tuesday with ~3.86M shares traded (about 45% below average), trading near its 200‑day moving average of $60.55.
• Analysts hold a consensus Buy rating with an average price target of $79.08, though recent notes are mixed — Morgan Stanley cut its target to $62 while Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell."
• Insiders sold a total of 346,000 shares (~$22M) over the quarter, including large CEO and CFO sales (the CEO's under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan), as the company reports revenue declines and negative margins despite an EPS beat last quarter.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) dropped 5% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $60.45 and last traded at $61.6550. Approximately 3,858,987 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 7,044,594 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.92.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MP shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of MP Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MP Materials currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $79.08.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.55. The firm has a market cap of $10.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -118.57 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 6.67, a current ratio of 7.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.07. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The firm had revenue of $52.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $76.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. MP Materials's revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 346,000 shares of company stock worth $21,969,816 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. raised its holdings in MP Materials by 555.3% during the 4th quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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