Clearbridge Investments LLC Has $8.99 Million Stock Position in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Clearbridge Investments LLC decreased its position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 178,023 shares of the company’s stock after selling 35,349 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $8,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Havemeyer Place LP acquired a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,342,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its holdings in MP Materials by 2,695.8% in the 4th quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 126,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,381,000 after acquiring an additional 121,794 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in MP Materials by 146.9% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 234,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,842,000 after acquiring an additional 139,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth $318,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. This trade represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 1,251,167 shares of company stock worth $82,131,654 over the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.14.

MP Materials Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of MP Materials stock opened at $53.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -127.15 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. MP Materials Corp. has a 12-month low of $23.26 and a 12-month high of $100.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.68.

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

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.