27,400 Shares in MP Materials Corp. $MP Bought by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board purchased a new stake in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 27,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,838,000.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Securities raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction 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 approximately $821,758,774.05. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $22,006,616. 9.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MP Materials Stock Down 4.7%

Shares of NYSE MP opened at $50.63 on Friday. MP Materials Corp. has a 52 week low of $18.64 and a 52 week high of $100.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.92. The company has a quick ratio of 6.67, a current ratio of 7.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -97.36 and a beta of 1.55.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.