Retirement Systems of Alabama Makes New $10.92 Million Investment in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Retirement Systems of Alabama bought a new position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 162,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,915,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.09% of MP Materials at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Calamos Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $16,726,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in MP Materials by 132.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 176,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,888,000 after buying an additional 100,915 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $670,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $550,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in MP Materials by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 108,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,293,000 after acquiring an additional 11,544 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 156,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,399,960. The trade was a 19.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total value of $24,231,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,105,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $824,889,437.10. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 991,557 shares of company stock worth $62,785,202 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MP opened at $66.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 8.05 and a quick ratio of 7.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $59.56 and its 200-day moving average is $64.85. MP Materials Corp. has a 12-month low of $18.64 and a 12-month high of $100.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -94.35 and a beta of 1.62.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $53.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.72 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 50.55% and a negative return on equity of 7.69%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MP shares. Bank of America raised their price target on MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.50 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.91.

MP Materials 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.