AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Sold by GTS Securities LLC

GTS Securities LLC lessened its stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) by 90.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,214 shares of the company's stock after selling 147,728 shares during the quarter. GTS Securities LLC's holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 49.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,987,351 shares of the company's stock worth $316,233,000 after acquiring an additional 4,955,941 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,496,825 shares of the company's stock worth $73,801,000 after buying an additional 229,759 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,523,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,266,713 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,728,000 after purchasing an additional 135,008 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,233,056 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,017,000 after acquiring an additional 100,153 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASTS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer began coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Scotiabank cut their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $47.90 to $45.40 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Roth Capital started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.40.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

Shares of AST SpaceMobile stock traded down $0.35 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $23.22. 9,361,242 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,031,039. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a one year low of $7.56 and a one year high of $39.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.95 and a beta of 2.05. The company has a quick ratio of 5.80, a current ratio of 5.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $0.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.85 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Julio A. Torres sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.73, for a total transaction of $614,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 52,628 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,617,258.44. This represents a 27.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.82, for a total transaction of $1,475,100.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 34.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.