MP Materials Corp. $MP Stake Increased by Flputnam Investment Management Co.

Key Points

• Flputnam Investment Management increased its MP Materials stake by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, adding 17,544 shares and bringing its total holdings to 138,879 shares worth about $7.0 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with several firms reiterating or initiating buy/overweight ratings; MarketBeat shows an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $80.08.
• MP Materials reported better-than-expected Q1 results, posting $0.03 EPS versus an expected loss and revenue of $90.65 million, up 49.1% year over year, even as the stock traded down 2.6% in Thursday trading.

Flputnam Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Free Report) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 138,879 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 17,544 shares during the period. Flputnam Investment Management Co. owned approximately 0.08% of MP Materials worth $7,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $9,702,000. Polianta Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $1,227,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the third quarter valued at $10,915,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 84.1% in the third quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 118,252 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,931,000 after purchasing an additional 54,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, South Dakota Investment Council purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the third quarter valued at $1,617,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 17,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $56.62 per share, for a total transaction of $962,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,333,673 shares of the company's stock, valued at $75,512,565.26. This represents a 1.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 666,000 shares of company stock valued at $43,103,382 over the last three months. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Securities upgraded MP Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Barclays assumed coverage on MP Materials in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $69.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $80.08.

MP Materials Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:MP opened at $65.23 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $11.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -155.30 and a beta of 1.90. The stock's 50-day moving average is $59.07 and its 200-day moving average is $59.43. MP Materials Corp. has a 52-week low of $18.64 and a 52-week high of $100.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The firm's revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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