Covea Finance Purchases New Stake in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Covea Finance acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 82,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,178,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 4,600.0% during the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 500.0% in the third quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 75.9% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,020. The trade was a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at $821,758,774.05. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $22,006,616 in the last quarter. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on MP shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, November 24th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Trading Down 4.7%

NYSE MP opened at $50.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 6.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -97.36 and a beta of 1.55. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.92. MP Materials Corp. has a 12 month low of $18.64 and a 12 month high of $100.25.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The business had revenue of $52.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.12) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

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.