T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Has $53.88 Million Stock Holdings in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 16%, now holding approximately 2.37 million shares valued at $53.9 million.
• Insider sales included COO Shanti B. Gupta selling 10,000 shares for about $418,400, reducing their ownership by 3.17%.
• AST SpaceMobile reported a net loss of ($0.41) per share for the last quarter, significantly missing analysts' expectations.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) by 16.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,369,141 shares of the company's stock after selling 451,843 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned 0.75% of AST SpaceMobile worth $53,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter valued at approximately $705,398,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,266,315 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,796,000 after buying an additional 33,259 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 111.1% in the 1st quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 55,950 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,272,000 after buying an additional 29,450 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Finally, Informed Momentum Co LLC increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Informed Momentum Co LLC now owns 93,043 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,116,000 after buying an additional 4,508 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company's stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of ASTS traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $49.66. 2,263,962 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,756,986. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $49.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.73. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.50 and a twelve month high of $60.95. The stock has a market cap of $17.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.25 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a quick ratio of 8.23, a current ratio of 8.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.22). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 26.81% and a negative net margin of 7,213.90%.The business had revenue of $1.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASTS has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $45.40 to $42.90 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $38.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.41.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Scott Wisniewski sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.65, for a total transaction of $1,782,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 545,595 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,450,461.75. This represents a 8.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.84, for a total transaction of $418,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 305,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,789,107.28. This represents a 3.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 149,250 shares of company stock valued at $5,721,250 in the last quarter. 41.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Profile

AST SpaceMobile, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops and provides access to a space-based cellular broadband network for smartphones in the United States. Its SpaceMobile service provides cellular broadband services to end-users who are out of terrestrial cellular coverage. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.