Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Grows Stock Position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,388 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,821 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,861,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,216,000 after purchasing an additional 225,554 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of MP Materials by 2.8% during the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 2,819,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,895,000 after purchasing an additional 76,288 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in MP Materials by 3.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,355,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,993,000 after purchasing an additional 71,454 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in MP Materials by 1.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,733,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,068,000 after buying an additional 26,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake 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 valued at $23,767,000 after buying an additional 1,598,861 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Stock Up 1.1 %

MP stock opened at $16.17 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.50. MP Materials Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $10.02 and a fifty-two 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 company has a quick ratio of 6.17, a current ratio of 6.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.08). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 21.94%. 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 previous year, the company posted $0.07 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.47 EPS for the current year.

MP Materials announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, September 3rd that permits the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 13.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on MP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MP Materials from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of MP Materials from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MP Materials from $13.50 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of MP Materials from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.11.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

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

MP Materials Company 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.