Federated Hermes Inc. Has $10.73 Million Position in MP Materials Corp. $MP

Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 177.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,923 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 102,374 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $10,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 28.1% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 806 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in MP Materials by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 18,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,218,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in MP Materials by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $872,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in MP Materials by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 21,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in MP Materials by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MP Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MP Materials stock opened at $58.75 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $59.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.99. MP Materials Corp. has a 1-year low of $18.64 and a 1-year high of $100.25. The company has a current ratio of 8.05, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $10.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -82.75 and a beta of 1.60.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.The company had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.72 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.