Next Century Growth Investors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Next Century Growth Investors LLC trimmed its position in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 35.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 131,327 shares of the company’s stock after selling 71,766 shares during the period. Next Century Growth Investors LLC’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $6,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 75.9% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. This trade represents a 2.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 1,251,167 shares of company stock valued at $82,131,654 over the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MP Materials Stock Performance

MP opened at $57.70 on Monday. MP Materials Corp. has a 12-month low of $28.35 and a 12-month high of $100.25. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a PE ratio of -137.37 and a beta of 1.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.68.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. MP Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price 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.