24,109 Shares in MP Materials Corp. $MP Acquired by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council bought a new position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 24,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,617,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MP. Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at $16,726,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 132.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 176,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,888,000 after acquiring an additional 100,915 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the third quarter valued at about $670,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials during the third quarter valued at approximately $550,000. Finally, Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,089,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on MP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,758,774.05. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,399,960. This represents a 19.58% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 338,146 shares of company stock worth $21,535,376. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Trading Down 5.0%

Shares of MP Materials stock opened at $58.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.69 and a 200-day moving average of $63.86. MP Materials Corp. has a 52-week low of $18.64 and a 52-week high of $100.25. The stock has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of -112.50 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a current ratio of 7.24.

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.