MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Down 3.8% – Should You Sell?

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) traded down 3.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $16.88 and last traded at $16.88. 724,161 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 3,384,257 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MP Materials from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of MP Materials from $15.50 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on MP Materials from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on MP Materials from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on MP Materials from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.85.

MP Materials Trading Up 2.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a current ratio of 6.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -115.53 and a beta of 2.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $13.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.63.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.08). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 21.94% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The company had revenue of $31.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.07 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MP Materials declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, September 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 13.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 30,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.84 per share, with a total value of $325,200.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 1,402,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,208,249. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MP. TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in MP Materials by 153,700.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,537 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in MP Materials by 3,803.8% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 3,956 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $72,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $100,000. Finally, Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 8,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.