Caxton Associates LLP Acquires Shares of 79,917 AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• Caxton Associates LLP has made a new investment of approximately $1.82 million in AST SpaceMobile, acquiring 79,917 shares in the 1st quarter.
• Recent transactions include insider selling, with COO Shanti B. Gupta selling 10,000 shares at an average price of $41.84 and CFO Andrew Martin Johnson selling 20,000 shares at $52.48.
• AST SpaceMobile reported (-$0.41) earnings per share for the latest quarter, underperforming against analysts' expectations of (-$0.19), with revenue significantly below estimates.

Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 79,917 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,817,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 61.9% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 388.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Close Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 72.4% during the 1st quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,810 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the period. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

AST SpaceMobile stock traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $38.49. The company had a trading volume of 6,402,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,694,200. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.50 and a 52 week high of $60.95. The company has a 50 day moving average of $48.96 and a 200-day moving average of $35.77. The firm has a market cap of $13.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.38 and a beta of 2.43.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $42.82.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.84, for a total value of $418,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 305,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,107.28. This trade represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.48, for a total transaction of $1,049,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 397,485 shares in the company, valued at $20,860,012.80. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 34.15% of the company's stock.

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.