Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $840,000 Stock Position in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its position in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 47,564 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,371 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MP. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in MP Materials by 425.5% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 801,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,201,000 after purchasing an additional 648,838 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 188.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 898,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,462,000 after buying an additional 586,906 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its holdings in MP Materials by 151.1% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 815,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,382,000 after buying an additional 490,767 shares during the period. Regal Partners Ltd boosted its stake in MP Materials by 275.4% in the second quarter. Regal Partners Ltd now owns 464,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,907,000 after acquiring an additional 340,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its holdings in MP Materials by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,245,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,988,000 after acquiring an additional 306,933 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MP shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. DA Davidson raised their target price on MP Materials from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on MP Materials from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of MP Materials from $16.00 to $18.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MP Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.10.

MP Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MP opened at $16.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.96 and a beta of 2.24. MP Materials Corp. has a twelve month low of $10.02 and a twelve month high of $24.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 6.13 and a current ratio of 6.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $19.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.77.

MP Materials declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, September 3rd that allows the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 13.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,667 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.68, for a total value of $4,852,913.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,608,409 shares in the company, valued at $364,141,898.12. This trade represents a 1.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 15,195 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.30, for a total transaction of $278,068.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 295,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,398,884.30. The trade was a 4.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 884,862 shares of company stock worth $17,484,482 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

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.