Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys Shares of 8,882 AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at $533,000. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at $472,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 33.9% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 13,546 shares of the company's stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 3,427 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,525 shares of the company's stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 61.9% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company's stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASTS traded up $1.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $60.06. 8,925,169 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,409,182. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.18 and a beta of 2.27. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.60 and a 52 week high of $60.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 10.62 and a quick ratio of 10.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.19.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.03). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 23.56% and a negative net margin of 7,033.22%. The business had revenue of $0.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.85 million. Analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ASTS shares. Scotiabank restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.40 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Roth Capital started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $42.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $45.34.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Scott Wisniewski sold 50,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.65, for a total value of $1,782,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 545,595 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,450,461.75. This trade represents a 8.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.84, for a total value of $418,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 305,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,789,107.28. The trade was a 3.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 184,250 shares of company stock valued at $6,146,750. 34.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Company 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.