Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Buys Shares of 61,900 AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden opened a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter, buying 61,900 shares valued at about $5.13 million.
• Institutional ownership in AST SpaceMobile remains high, with large holders like Vanguard, Vodafone Ventures, Morgan Stanley, Geode Capital, and State Street also maintaining or increasing stakes; institutions own about 60.95% of the stock.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, including director Julio A. Torres and major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani, while analysts remain cautious with an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of about $85.09.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 61,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,130,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,488,180 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,560,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,292 shares during the period. Vodafone Ventures Ltd bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter worth about $397,413,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 44.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,661,551 shares of the company's stock valued at $338,569,000 after buying an additional 1,425,199 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,522,549 shares of the company's stock valued at $328,749,000 after buying an additional 402,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,951,685 shares of the company's stock valued at $287,011,000 after buying an additional 350,690 shares in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, Director Julio A. Torres sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total value of $1,145,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,239 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,300,865.26. This represents a 25.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,690,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.42, for a total transaction of $154,499,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 29,330,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,681,362,770.10. The trade was a 5.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 3,145,809 shares of company stock valued at $280,645,292 over the last ninety days. 20.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

ASTS stock opened at $85.13 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 18.47, a quick ratio of 18.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company's 50 day moving average is $87.38 and its 200 day moving average is $89.59. The stock has a market cap of $33.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.83 and a beta of 2.69. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.08 and a 1-year high of $133.86.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.43). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. The company had revenue of $14.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $39.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.20) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. New Street Research set a $106.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, May 29th. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $85.09.

About AST SpaceMobile

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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