New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 39.9%, adding 27,500 shares to hold 96,367 shares valued at $4.73 million, and institutional investors now own about 60.95% of the stock.
• Significant insider selling occurred this quarter, including Tower Corp's sale of 2,288,621 shares (~$159.6M) and overall insider sales of 2,354,621 shares worth $164.35M, leaving insiders with roughly 30.90% ownership.
• Wall Street sentiment has turned cautious with multiple downgrades and an average MarketBeat rating of “Reduce” and average price target of $45.66, while the company reports negative earnings and volatile trading.

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 96,367 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 27,500 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund's holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $4,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 225.0% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 650 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Chapman Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $442,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total value of $159,631,314.75. Following the sale, the insider owned 211,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,743,685.25. This trade represents a 91.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 2,765 shares of company stock worth $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 9.1%

Shares of AST SpaceMobile stock opened at $101.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a current ratio of 9.56. The company has a market capitalization of $37.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -82.09 and a beta of 2.70. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.22 and a 1 year high of $129.89. The company's fifty day moving average is $88.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.91.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.10) earnings per share. AST SpaceMobile's quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

AST SpaceMobile Company 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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