Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 144,661 Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,079,668 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 144,661 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $16,843,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MP Materials by 48.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 899,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,035,000 after buying an additional 294,806 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of MP Materials by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 505,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,923,000 after acquiring an additional 59,469 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of MP Materials by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 462,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,161,000 after purchasing an additional 19,077 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new position in MP Materials in the 3rd quarter worth $4,584,000. Finally, Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lifted its position in MP Materials by 0.4% during the third quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 255,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MP has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson raised their price objective on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.61.

MP Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MP opened at $26.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.44 and a beta of 2.32. MP Materials Corp. has a 52-week low of $10.02 and a 52-week high of $27.29. 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 fifty day moving average is $23.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.60.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.05). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 8.44% and a negative net margin of 32.09%. The firm had revenue of $60.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.71 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 489,918 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.77, for a total value of $13,115,104.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,153,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $405,650,039.66. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $405,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 214,812 shares in the company, valued at $5,799,924. This represents a 6.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,112,316 shares of company stock valued at $28,665,974 in the last quarter. 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.