MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 2.2% - What's Next?

Key Points

• MP Materials shares fell 2.2% to $54.88, with trading volume 37% below the average session volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive: the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and a $78.21 average price target, although one firm downgraded it to “sell.”
• Quarterly revenue rose 89% year over year to $108.49 million and exceeded estimates, while EPS matched expectations at a loss of $0.01; institutional investors own 52.55% of the company.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report)'s stock price dropped 2.2% on Monday . The company traded as low as $54.28 and last traded at $54.88. Approximately 4,166,163 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 6,636,982 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush raised their target price on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MP Materials from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MP Materials currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.21.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -161.41 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $51.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.78.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $108.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.MP Materials's quarterly revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.13) EPS. On average, analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total value of $12,802,446.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at $803,461,973.72. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,418,574.60. This represents a 7.90% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 5,523.6% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 9,225,687 shares of the company's stock worth $516,731,000 after acquiring an additional 9,061,633 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $82,531,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in MP Materials by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,183,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in MP Materials in the second quarter valued at $65,230,000. 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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