DAVENPORT & Co LLC Purchases Shares of 297,214 AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• DAVENPORT & Co LLC acquired 297,214 shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc., representing a stake valued at approximately $13.89 million, bringing its ownership to about 0.09% of the company.
• Several hedge funds made significant investments in AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter, with Alphabet Inc. and Rakuten Group Inc. being among the largest new stakeholders, contributing a total of over $900 million combined.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings for AST SpaceMobile, with an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.27 per share, following a recent earnings report that missed forecasts.

DAVENPORT & Co LLC purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 297,214 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,889,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC owned about 0.09% of AST SpaceMobile at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter worth $203,375,000. Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth about $705,398,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at about $14,750,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 39,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $904,000 after acquiring an additional 6,753 shares during the period. Finally, Sender Co & Partners Inc. lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 44.8% during the 1st quarter. Sender Co & Partners Inc. now owns 295,376 shares of the company's stock worth $6,717,000 after acquiring an additional 91,352 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ASTS shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $45.40 to $42.90 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $37.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $192,755. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 397,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,860,012.80. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 41.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 7.6%

ASTS opened at $72.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $26.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -38.57 and a beta of 2.41. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $48.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.69. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.50 and a 52 week high of $74.77. 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 released its earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.19) by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $1.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.37 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 7,213.90% and a negative return on equity of 26.81%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About AST SpaceMobile

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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