Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Sells 17,969 Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lessened its stake in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 14.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 107,803 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,969 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $1,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 153,700.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 3,803.8% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 3,956 shares during the period. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 8,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $124,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of MP Materials by 425.5% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 7,957 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal acquired 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $10.84 per share, for a total transaction of $325,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,402,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,208,249. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MP. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Monday, July 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $16.50 price objective on the stock. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on MP Materials from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on MP Materials from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MP Materials from $13.50 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.11.

MP Materials Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MP opened at $14.20 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $13.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.50. MP Materials Corp. has a 12-month low of $10.02 and a 12-month high of $20.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -94.67 and a beta of 2.22. The company has a current ratio of 6.90, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $31.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.03 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 21.94% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.07 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

MP Materials declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, September 3rd that allows the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 13.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About MP Materials

MP Materials Corp., together with its subsidiaries, produces rare earth materials. The company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth mine and processing facility in North America. It holds the mineral rights to the Mountain Pass mine and surrounding areas, as well as intellectual property rights related to the processing and development of rare earth minerals.