Commons Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Commons Capital LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 26,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,357,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 4,600.0% during the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 564 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank increased its holdings in MP Materials by 500.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in MP Materials by 106.2% in the 3rd quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $22,006,616 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, November 24th. TD Securities upgraded MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Down 7.5%

MP Materials stock opened at $53.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -102.34 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. MP Materials Corp. has a twelve month low of $18.64 and a twelve month high of $100.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.07.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The firm had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.06 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.