Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 41,113 Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors increased its AST SpaceMobile stake by 9.1% in the first quarter, adding 41,113 shares to own 491,843 shares valued at approximately $40.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 60.95% of the company.
• AST SpaceMobile reported a quarterly loss of $0.66 per share and revenue of $14.73 million, missing analyst estimates, despite revenue rising 1,952% year over year. Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $87.60.
• Company insiders have been selling shares, including the CTO’s sale of 40,000 shares and a director’s sale of 15,000 shares; insiders sold 105,809 shares worth roughly $9.75 million over the past 90 days.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) by 9.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 491,843 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 41,113 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.13% of AST SpaceMobile worth $40,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ASTS. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 8,016.7% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,269,609 shares of the company's stock valued at $92,000,000 after buying an additional 1,253,967 shares in the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth about $1,649,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 1,062.9% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 77,994 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,665,000 after acquiring an additional 71,287 shares in the last quarter. Arrowpoint Investment Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,290,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 259.5% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 23,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,942,000 after acquiring an additional 16,918 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company's stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 7.7%

ASTS opened at $63.52 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $80.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 18.37 and a current ratio of 18.47. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.08 and a twelve month high of $133.86. The firm has a market cap of $24.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.69 and a beta of 2.76.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.43). The firm had revenue of $14.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.20) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASTS has been the subject of several recent research reports. B. Riley Financial raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. New Street Research set a $106.00 price objective on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered AST SpaceMobile from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, William Blair restated a "market perform" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $87.60.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, Director Julio A. Torres sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total transaction of $1,145,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 43,239 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,300,865.26. This trade represents a 25.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total transaction of $3,854,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 34,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,348,857.50. This trade represents a 53.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 105,809 shares of company stock valued at $9,748,492. Corporate insiders own 20.89% of the company's stock.

AST SpaceMobile Profile

AST SpaceMobile is a U.S.-based aerospace company developing a space-based cellular broadband network designed to connect standard mobile phones and other devices directly to satellites. The company's core proposition is “space-to-cell” service: operating a constellation of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites equipped with large, high-power phased-array antennas to provide wide-area mobile broadband without requiring users to buy specialized terminals or handset modifications.

AST SpaceMobile designs, builds and operates satellite payloads and supporting ground infrastructure.

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