Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,655 shares of the company’s stock after selling 656 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 205.4% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,849 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MP Materials by 204.7% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in MP Materials by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 1,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MP. DA Davidson increased their price objective on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.61.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 161,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.94, for a total value of $4,342,054.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,352,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $386,661,441.66. This represents a 1.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.51, for a total value of $1,530,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 230,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,869,851. The trade was a 20.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,112,316 shares of company stock valued at $28,665,974 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MP stock opened at $26.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.03 and a beta of 2.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.87. MP Materials Corp. has a one year low of $10.02 and a one year high of $27.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 6.13 and a current ratio of 6.93.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.05). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 8.44% and a negative net margin of 32.09%. The firm had revenue of $60.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.71 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

MP Materials Profile

MP Materials Corp., together with its subsidiaries, produces rare earth materials. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth mine and processing facility in North America. It holds the mineral rights to the Mountain Pass mine and surrounding areas, as well as intellectual property rights related to the processing and development of rare earth minerals.