MP Materials Corp. $MP Stake Reduced by Strs Ohio

Key Points

• Strs Ohio cut its MP Materials stake by 91.3% in the fourth quarter, leaving it with 3,129 shares valued at about $158,000.
• MP Materials beat earnings expectations in its latest quarterly report, posting $0.03 EPS versus an expected loss and revenue of $90.65 million, up 49.1% year over year.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including CFO Ryan Corbett and CEO James H. Litinsky, while analysts still maintain a consensus Buy rating with an average price target of $81.00.

Strs Ohio reduced its stake in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Free Report) by 91.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,129 shares of the company's stock after selling 32,994 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio's holdings in MP Materials were worth $158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the third quarter valued at about $670,000. Private Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $9,702,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter worth about $550,000. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,089,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in MP Materials by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 108,744 shares of the company's stock worth $7,293,000 after acquiring an additional 11,544 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MP Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MP opened at $67.42 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The firm has a market cap of $11.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -160.53 and a beta of 1.90. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $58.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.49. MP Materials Corp. has a 52 week low of $18.64 and a 52 week high of $100.25.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 2.27% and a negative net margin of 28.00%.The company's revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at $800,756,938.95. This trade represents a 2.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 366,000 shares of company stock worth $23,469,816 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 8.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MP. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MP Materials from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price objective on MP Materials in a report on Friday. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.00.

About MP Materials

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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