PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in MP Materials Corp. $MP

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 68.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,747 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,637 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $1,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 555.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 75.9% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 106.2% during the third quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 177,188 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total value of $11,540,254.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,205,965 shares in the company, valued at $794,974,500.45. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 17,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $56.62 per share, with a total value of $962,540.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares in the company, valued at $75,512,565.26. This represents a 1.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders sold 666,000 shares of company stock worth $43,103,382 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MP shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wedbush increased their price objective on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Three investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.08.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of MP opened at $66.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a PE ratio of -159.03 and a beta of 1.90. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.48. MP Materials Corp. has a 1-year low of $19.60 and a 1-year high of $100.25.

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

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.