State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Invests $1.50 Million in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 117,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,501,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.07% of MP Materials at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in MP Materials by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,635,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,669,000 after acquiring an additional 254,881 shares during the last quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in MP Materials by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC now owns 250,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,962,000 after purchasing an additional 90,000 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in MP Materials by 15.6% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 62,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $888,000 after purchasing an additional 8,376 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in MP Materials by 2,536.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,661,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,767,000 after buying an additional 1,598,861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in MP Materials by 12.4% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 47,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 5,200 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on MP shares. Bank of America reduced their target price on MP Materials from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on MP Materials from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $13.50 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.11.

MP Materials Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of MP Materials stock opened at $16.17 on Thursday. MP Materials Corp. has a 52-week low of $10.02 and a 52-week high of $20.85. The stock has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of -107.79 and a beta of 2.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $13.11 and a 200-day moving average of $14.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a current ratio of 6.90.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted 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). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 21.94% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The business had revenue of $31.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.47 EPS for the current year.

MP Materials declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, September 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 13.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In related news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 30,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.84 per share, with a total value of $325,200.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 1,402,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,208,249. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MP Materials Profile

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.