192,045 Shares in MP Materials Corp. $MP Purchased by Private Advisory Group LLC

Private Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 192,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,702,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MP. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $996,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 2.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,020,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $940,360,000 after buying an additional 363,975 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in MP Materials during the second quarter worth about $132,238,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in MP Materials by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,033,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,928,000 after acquiring an additional 378,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in MP Materials by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of MP opened at $51.86 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.51. The stock has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a PE ratio of -99.73 and a beta of 1.55. MP Materials Corp. has a 1-year low of $18.64 and a 1-year high of $100.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 6.67.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The firm had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.12) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,020. The trade was a 26.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at $821,758,774.05. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $22,006,616. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

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.