Comerica Bank Purchases 23,451 Shares of MP Materials Corp. $MP

Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 60.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,337 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 23,451 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $3,149,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd grew its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% during the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,741,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,479,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,519,000 after purchasing an additional 459,213 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 168.4% during the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 20.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,119,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,055,000 after purchasing an additional 192,870 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. This trade represents a 2.03% 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. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,020. The trade was a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 346,000 shares of company stock worth $21,969,816. Insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MP. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Wedbush began coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Monday, April 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Securities raised shares of MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.08.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of MP stock opened at $66.65 on Monday. MP Materials Corp. has a 52-week low of $18.64 and a 52-week high of $100.25. The stock has a market cap of $11.84 billion, a PE ratio of -128.16 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a current ratio of 7.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $57.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.96.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $52.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.06 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 EPS 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.