Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lessened its holdings in MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 25,887 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,838 shares during the quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc.’s holdings in MP Materials were worth $404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MP. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in MP Materials by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,432,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,945,000 after purchasing an additional 73,297 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in shares of MP Materials by 32.7% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,245,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,988,000 after buying an additional 306,933 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,079,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,843,000 after buying an additional 144,661 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 48.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 899,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,035,000 after acquiring an additional 294,806 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in MP Materials by 13.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MP shares. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $19.50 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MP Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.45.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 386,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total value of $9,273,214.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,643,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $375,590,254.76. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE MP opened at $26.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.25 and a beta of 2.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 6.93 and a quick ratio of 6.13. MP Materials Corp. has a 12 month low of $10.02 and a 12 month high of $27.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $22.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.41.

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

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.