Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• Nisa Investment Advisors more than doubled its stake in AST SpaceMobile in Q3 (up 105.1%) to 27,177 shares worth about $1.33 million, and institutional investors now own roughly 60.95% of the company.
• Heavy insider selling has occurred recently: CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares and major shareholder Tower Corp sold 2,288,621 shares, with insiders net-selling ~2.35 million shares valued at about $164.3 million over the past 90 days.
• Analysts have been downgrading the stock—ASTS carries a consensus rating of "Reduce" with an average target of $45.66—while the shares trade near $95 amid negative EPS and a recent revenue miss despite strong year-over-year top-line growth.

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) by 105.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,177 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,926 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $1,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 225.0% during 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 shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter worth $33,000. Chapman Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total transaction of $2,940,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $349,220. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total transaction of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 211,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,743,685.25. This represents a 91.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over 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. Corporate insiders own 30.90% of the company's stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $95.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $34.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -76.79 and a beta of 2.70. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.50 and a 12 month high of $102.79. The company has a current ratio of 9.56, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $71.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.75.

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

About AST SpaceMobile

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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