Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Decreases Position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 33.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,038 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,053 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in MP Materials by 2.3% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 35,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $506,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 74,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 15.9% in the first quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 8,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 13,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 153,700.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,537 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MP. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on MP Materials from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Monday, July 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $16.50 target price on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on MP Materials from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MP Materials from $13.50 to $16.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.11.

MP Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MP opened at $13.89 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of -92.57 and a beta of 2.22. The company has a quick ratio of 6.17, a current ratio of 6.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. MP Materials Corp. has a twelve month low of $10.02 and a twelve month high of $20.85.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.08). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 21.94%. The company had revenue of $31.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.07 earnings per share. MP Materials’s revenue was down 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MP Materials announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, September 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 13.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.84 per share, for a total transaction of $325,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 1,402,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,208,249. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 12.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.