MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 8.6% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Stock drop: MP Materials shares fell 8.6% to about $63.27 on Thursday, with 6.69 million shares traded—slightly below average session volume.
• Earnings mixed: The company beat EPS estimates ($0.09 vs. $0.02) but missed revenue ($52.7M vs. $76.1M), with revenue down 13.6% year-over-year and a negative net margin (-38.26%).
• Insider sales and analyst moves: Insiders sold 346,000 shares (~$22M) over three months including CEO and CFO sales, while Morgan Stanley cut its price target to $62; consensus remains a "Buy" with an average target of $79.08.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) traded down 8.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $62.68 and last traded at $63.2660. 6,689,942 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 6% from the average session volume of 7,117,726 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. TD Securities upgraded shares of MP Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $79.08.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -121.67 and a beta of 1.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 6.67.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $52.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. This represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 346,000 shares of company stock worth $21,969,816. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MP. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 26.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 234,185 shares of the company's stock worth $5,716,000 after purchasing an additional 49,052 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the first quarter valued at about $215,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the first quarter valued at about $219,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $265,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 36.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 193,943 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,734,000 after buying an additional 51,348 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.