Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 344,044 Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its holdings in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Free Report) by 12.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,325,793 shares of the company's stock after selling 344,044 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 1.41% of MP Materials worth $41,562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 6.5% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 51,601 shares of the company's stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 3,149 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 38.5% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 9,666 shares of the company's stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 2,689 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 2.6% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 93,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,643,000 after purchasing an additional 2,331 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 43.4% in the third quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors now owns 689,270 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,166,000 after purchasing an additional 208,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 190,098 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,355,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal bought 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was 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. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 12.60% of the company's stock.

MP Materials Trading Up 0.1 %

MP stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $18.25. The stock had a trading volume of 2,069,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,265,581. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.08. The company has a quick ratio of 6.17, a current ratio of 6.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.62 and a beta of 2.23. MP Materials Corp. has a twelve month low of $10.02 and a twelve month high of $20.85.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $31.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.03 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 21.94%. MP Materials's revenue for the quarter was down 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MP Materials declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, September 3rd that allows the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 13.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on MP. 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on MP Materials from $16.00 to $18.50 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on MP Materials from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MP Materials from $13.50 to $16.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on MP Materials from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $21.40.

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.