MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Shares Acquired by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Free Report) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 55,811 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 10,693 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in MP Materials were worth $871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,537,511 shares of the company's stock valued at $101,986,000 after buying an additional 2,005,505 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,886,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,284,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,019,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,330,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on MP Materials from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $23.61.

MP Materials Stock Performance

NYSE MP traded down $0.86 on Monday, reaching $21.09. 8,726,656 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,693,680. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $24.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.75 and a beta of 2.24. MP Materials Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $10.02 and a fifty-two week high of $29.72. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.02). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 8.44% and a negative net margin of 32.09%. The company had revenue of $60.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 15,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $405,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 214,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,799,924. The trade was a 6.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 18,519 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $500,013.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,842,256 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $373,740,912. This trade represents a 0.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 943,792 shares of company stock valued at $25,286,567 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company's stock.

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.