Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Has $10.65 Million Stock Position in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 84.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 210,737 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 96,779 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $10,646,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $851,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 400.0% in the fourth quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,544,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,587,000 after acquiring an additional 197,375 shares during the last quarter. Coordinated Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of MP Materials by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Coordinated Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cypress Capital Management LLC WY acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $953,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. This represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,512,565.26. The trade was a 1.29% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,066,000 shares of company stock valued at $69,329,207. 8.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MP Materials Price Performance

MP Materials stock opened at $69.55 on Tuesday. MP Materials Corp. has a 12 month low of $20.10 and a 12 month high of $100.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $59.69 and its 200-day moving average is $59.54. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $12.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -165.60 and a beta of 1.90.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. TD Securities raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.14.

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.