Blair William & Co. IL Grows Stock Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL increased its stock position in AST SpaceMobile by 152.5%, owning 26,327 shares valued at $1.23 million after acquiring an additional 15,900 shares in the second quarter.
• AST SpaceMobile reported a loss per share of ($0.41), missing the consensus estimate, and generated revenue of only $1.16 million compared to expectations of $6.37 million.
• Institutional ownership is significant, with over 60.95% of AST SpaceMobile's shares held by hedge funds and other institutional investors, highlighting strong market interest.

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) by 152.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,327 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 15,900 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $1,230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter valued at about $705,398,000. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth $203,375,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,266,315 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,796,000 after purchasing an additional 33,259 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 4.1% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 888,654 shares of the company's stock worth $20,208,000 after acquiring an additional 34,591 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 1,992.5% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 843,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,182,000 after purchasing an additional 803,240 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 1.3%

NASDAQ ASTS opened at $95.69 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.40. The company has a market capitalization of $34.31 billion, a PE ratio of -50.63 and a beta of 2.41. The company has a current ratio of 8.23, a quick ratio of 8.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.50 and a 12 month high of $99.82.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.37 million. Research analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ASTS. Zacks Research upgraded AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $37.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group lowered AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Scotiabank lowered AST SpaceMobile from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector underperform" rating and set a $42.90 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.27.

Insider Activity

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total value of $1,623,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at $192,755. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.48, for a total value of $1,049,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 397,485 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,860,012.80. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 34.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Company 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.

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