Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Has $2.09 Million Position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC increased its position in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 25.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 118,648 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,231 shares during the quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $2,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,635,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,669,000 after acquiring an additional 254,881 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in MP Materials by 15.6% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 62,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $888,000 after buying an additional 8,376 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in MP Materials by 2,536.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,661,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,767,000 after buying an additional 1,598,861 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in MP Materials by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 47,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 5,200 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $959,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In related news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.84 per share, with a total value of $325,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 1,402,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,208,249. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 12.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of MP Materials from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on MP Materials from $15.50 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on MP Materials from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of MP Materials from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.85.

MP Materials Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of MP traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $17.81. 1,942,186 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,365,029. The business has a fifty day moving average of $14.04 and a 200-day moving average of $14.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of -44.52 and a beta of 2.23. MP Materials Corp. has a 1-year low of $10.02 and a 1-year high of $20.85. The company has a current ratio of 6.90, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.08). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 21.94% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The business had revenue of $31.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.03 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.48 EPS for the current year.

MP Materials declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, September 3rd that allows the company to repurchase $300.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 13.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.