Van ECK Associates Corp Lowers Position in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its holdings in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,651,607 shares of the company’s stock after selling 80,877 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $110,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

MP Materials Stock Performance

MP opened at $61.66 on Wednesday. MP Materials Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $18.64 and a fifty-two week high of $100.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.60. 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 firm has a market cap of $10.93 billion, a PE ratio of -118.57 and a beta of 1.55.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total transaction of $17,492,742.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upgraded MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

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.