59,820 Shares in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 59,820 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,460,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JT Stratford LLC raised its stake in MP Materials by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 63,685 shares of the company's stock worth $993,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,650 shares of the company's stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 20.6% in the 1st quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 3,965 shares of the company's stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 678 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,441 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SWS Partners grew its position in MP Materials by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. SWS Partners now owns 162,503 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,535,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 199,180 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.08, for a total transaction of $5,393,794.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,643,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $369,454,498.08. The trade was a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MP Materials Stock Down 1.9%

NYSE MP traded down $0.63 on Friday, reaching $31.75. The company had a trading volume of 3,886,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,708,244. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 4.12 and a quick ratio of 3.58. MP Materials Corp. has a 1 year low of $10.02 and a 1 year high of $39.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.38 and a 200-day moving average of $23.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.19 billion, a PE ratio of -48.84 and a beta of 2.26.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 net margin of 48.41% and a negative return on equity of 9.77%. The firm had revenue of $60.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. MP Materials's revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MP Materials from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of MP Materials from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.44.

MP Materials Company 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.