Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Makes New Investment in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System has newly invested approximately $392,000 in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. by purchasing 8,378 shares during the 2nd quarter.
• Many institutional investors have increased their stakes in AST SpaceMobile, with significant boosts from firms like Sunbelt Securities and GAMMA Investing.
• Despite a recent investment, analysts have mixed ratings on AST SpaceMobile, with some maintaining a "buy" rating while others have downgraded their outlook on the stock.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,378 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $392,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ASTS. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 61.9% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 388.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Close Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 72.4% during the 1st quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,810 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter worth approximately $48,000. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.48, for a total value of $1,049,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 397,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,860,012.80. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total value of $1,623,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company's stock, 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on ASTS shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $44.00 price target (up from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Bank of America assumed coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.27.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 10.3%

Shares of ASTS opened at $90.50 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $51.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.65. The stock has a market cap of $32.45 billion, a PE ratio of -47.88 and a beta of 2.41. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.50 and a 12 month high of $92.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 8.23 and a quick ratio of 8.23.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.19) by ($0.22). The company 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%. Equities analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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