Jones Financial Companies Lllp Has $1.55 Million Stock Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• Jones Financial Companies LLP increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 28% to 31,580 shares, now worth about $1.55 million, while other institutions (Invesco, Quadrature, Y Intercept Hong Kong) hold much larger recent positions, leaving 60.95% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Company insiders have been net sellers recently — including the CTO's 40,000‑share sale and the CAO's 6,000‑share sale on Dec. 5 — with insiders selling 2,354,621 shares (~$164.3M) in the last 90 days (insiders still hold 30.9% of the stock).
• Analyst sentiment is bearish: multiple downgrades left a MarketBeat consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $45.66, amid a recent quarterly miss (EPS -$0.45 vs. -$0.18 estimate and revenue $14.74M vs. $22.04M estimate).

Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) by 28.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,580 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,901 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ASTS. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,754,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 610.4% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 475,531 shares of the company's stock worth $22,222,000 after buying an additional 408,595 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 170.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 569,785 shares of the company's stock worth $26,620,000 after acquiring an additional 359,335 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 320.5% in the 2nd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 398,563 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,624,000 after acquiring an additional 303,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter valued at $12,524,000. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $442,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total transaction of $2,940,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,220. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ASTS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from an "overweight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, October 17th. B. Riley Financial cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Scotiabank cut AST SpaceMobile from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector underperform" rating and set a $45.60 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered AST SpaceMobile from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

NASDAQ ASTS opened at $102.10 on Tuesday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $89.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.36. The stock has a market cap of $37.47 billion, a PE ratio of -82.34 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a current ratio of 9.56. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.22 and a fifty-two week high of $129.89.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. The firm had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.04 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.10) EPS. The company's revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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