Norges Bank Buys Shares of 1,633,636 MP Materials Corp. $MP

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,633,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,531,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd increased its holdings in MP Materials by 7.2% during the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in MP Materials by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,519,000 after buying an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in MP Materials by 76.3% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after buying an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in MP Materials by 168.4% during the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,705,000 after buying an additional 1,624,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MP Materials by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,544,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,587,000 after buying an additional 197,375 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MP opened at $59.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.75. MP Materials Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $23.26 and a fifty-two week high of $100.25. The firm has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -140.96 and a beta of 1.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. This represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,251,167 shares of company stock valued at $82,131,654. 8.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $69.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.14.

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.