California Public Employees Retirement System Has $12.40 Million Stock Position in MP Materials Corp. $MP

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 9.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 256,959 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 22,729 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $12,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Costello Asset Management INC grew its holdings in MP Materials by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Composition Wealth LLC raised its holdings in MP Materials by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in MP Materials by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its stake in MP Materials by 1.0% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 21,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $618,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MP opened at $41.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $56.34 and its 200-day moving average is $58.89. MP Materials Corp. has a 1-year low of $41.12 and a 1-year high of $100.25. The company has a current ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -98.25 and a beta of 1.86.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. MP Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,176,275. The trade was a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 905,167 shares of company stock worth $60,161,837. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MP has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.42.

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.