MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 1.5% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• MP Materials shares fell 1.5% to $59.28 in midday trading, with volume 12% above the daily average. The company has a $10.56 billion market capitalization and trades below the analyst consensus price target of $78.21.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: two firms rate the stock Strong Buy and 13 rate it Buy, although Needham and Barclays recently lowered their price targets. Weiss Ratings maintained a Sell rating.
• MP Materials matched quarterly EPS expectations at a loss of $0.01 while revenue of $108.49 million exceeded estimates and rose 89% year over year. Insider activity was mixed, with the COO buying shares while the CEO sold more than $15 million worth of stock.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) shares traded down 1.5% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $58.32 and last traded at $59.28. Approximately 7,487,636 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the average daily volume of 6,676,089 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.17.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, July 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.21.

MP Materials Trading Down 1.5%

The firm has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a PE ratio of -174.35 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a current ratio of 9.51, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $51.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.82.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.13) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.07 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total transaction of $15,456,461.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,855,965 shares in the company, valued at $780,952,414.55. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 469,818 shares of company stock worth $31,487,908 over the last quarter. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 5,523.6% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 9,225,687 shares of the company's stock worth $516,731,000 after purchasing an additional 9,061,633 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $82,531,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company's stock worth $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in MP Materials by 71.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company's stock valued at $143,220,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $65,230,000. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company's stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

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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