Praxis Investment Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 4,430 AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired 4,430 shares of AST SpaceMobile, valued at approximately $207,000, during the second quarter, reflecting growing interest from institutional investors in the company.
• AST SpaceMobile reported (-$0.41) earnings per share, missing analysts' expectations, while the firm had revenues of $1.16 million against expected revenues of $6.37 million.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of AST SpaceMobile's shares, indicating significant institutional confidence in the company's potential.

Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,430 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rakuten Group Inc. acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at about $705,398,000. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at about $203,375,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,266,315 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,796,000 after acquiring an additional 33,259 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 888,654 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,208,000 after acquiring an additional 34,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC raised 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 valued at $19,182,000 after acquiring an additional 803,240 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company's stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $83.49 on Monday. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.50 and a fifty-two week high of $102.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 8.23 and a current ratio of 8.23. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $54.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.17 and a beta of 2.41.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ASTS. Bank of America began coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. UBS Group cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, William Blair started coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $45.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total value of $1,623,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $192,755. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $1,049,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 397,485 shares in the company, valued at $20,860,012.80. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 41.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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