VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Makes New Investment in MP Materials Corp. $MP

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 10,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $677,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the second quarter worth about $132,238,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in MP Materials by 19,314.3% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,013,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,987,000 after acquiring an additional 2,003,091 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew 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 worth $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in MP Materials by 429.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,550,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $19,962,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MP. BMO Capital Markets upgraded MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at $9,399,960. The trade was a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total transaction of $24,231,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,105,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $824,889,437.10. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 691,557 shares of company stock worth $43,538,586. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MP Materials Price Performance

MP stock opened at $55.01 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a PE ratio of -77.48 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 8.05, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $57.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.21. MP Materials Corp. has a 12-month low of $16.51 and a 12-month high of $100.25.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.The company had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.72 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.12) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

MP Materials 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.