Van ECK Associates Corp Has $255.70 Million Stock Position in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,565,313 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,214 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $255,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MP. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $82,531,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in MP Materials by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the second quarter valued at $65,230,000. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% in the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 1,320.8% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 954,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,934,000 after buying an additional 887,148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen cut MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.21.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 185,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $12,802,446.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,620,798 shares in the company, valued at $803,461,973.72. This trade represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MP Materials Trading Down 4.7%

Shares of NYSE:MP opened at $56.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 9.51, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a PE ratio of -165.47 and a beta of 1.88. MP Materials Corp. has a 1 year low of $37.81 and a 1 year high of $100.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $51.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.82.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.13) earnings per share. Analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MP Materials Company 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.