Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 9,408 Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 890,290 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,408 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.54% of MP Materials worth $21,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 44.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,537,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after acquiring an additional 2,005,505 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,207,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,433,000 after acquiring an additional 176,121 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,118,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,050,000 after acquiring an additional 7,453 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 worth $16,843,000 after buying an additional 144,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of MP Materials by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 978,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,261,000 after purchasing an additional 186,748 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MP shares. Morgan Stanley raised MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MP Materials from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on MP Materials from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on MP Materials from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (up from $32.00) on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.06.

MP Materials Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NYSE MP opened at $30.00 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.58, a current ratio of 4.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $26.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.26. MP Materials Corp. has a 52 week low of $10.02 and a 52 week high of $39.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -46.15 and a beta of 2.26.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.02). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 48.41% and a negative return on equity of 9.77%. The firm had revenue of $60.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 199,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.08, for a total transaction of $5,393,794.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,643,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,454,498.08. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 9.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.