KPP Advisory Services LLC Purchases New Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• KPP Advisory Services LLC has acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile, purchasing 6,800 shares valued at approximately $318,000 during the 2nd quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Rakuten Group Inc. and Alphabet Inc., have recently made significant investments in AST SpaceMobile, contributing to a total institutional ownership of 60.95%.
• A recent earnings report revealed that AST SpaceMobile reported a loss of $0.41 EPS, missing expectations and generating only $1.16 million in revenue compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 million.

KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ASTS. Rakuten Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at $705,398,000. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter worth about $203,375,000. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 1,992.5% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 843,554 shares of the company's stock worth $19,182,000 after purchasing an additional 803,240 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter valued at about $14,750,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter valued at about $9,218,000. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.48, for a total transaction of $1,049,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 397,485 shares in the company, valued at $20,860,012.80. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total transaction of $1,623,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,755. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 41.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ASTS. William Blair initiated coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Zacks Research upgraded AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $45.40 to $42.90 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.27.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

ASTS stock opened at $72.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $26.14 billion, a PE ratio of -38.57 and a beta of 2.41. The company has a current ratio of 8.23, a quick ratio of 8.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $48.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.69. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.50 and a 1-year high of $74.77.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $1.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 26.81% and a negative net margin of 7,213.90%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

AST SpaceMobile Profile

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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