Prospera Financial Services Inc Takes $362,000 Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• Prospera Financial Services disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in AST SpaceMobile, buying 4,987 shares valued at about $362,000. Other institutions have also been active in the stock, and hedge funds and other institutional investors now own 60.95% of ASTS shares.
• Wall Street sentiment is mixed but cautious: analysts include one Buy, seven Hold, and three Sell ratings, with a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $81.33. Recent reports ranged from Barclays raising its target to $65 with an underweight rating to Roth Mkm maintaining a $108 buy target.
• AST SpaceMobile is facing pressure from launch-delay concerns after Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explosion, while insider selling has also added to caution. The company’s recent earnings missed estimates, reporting a loss of $0.66 per share and revenue of $14.74 million versus expectations of $39.01 million.

Prospera Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ASTS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,488,180 shares of the company's stock worth $1,560,687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,292 shares in the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter worth $90,129,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,104,013 shares of the company's stock worth $54,185,000 after acquiring an additional 168,832 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 37.8% during the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 843,738 shares of the company's stock worth $41,411,000 after acquiring an additional 231,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 125.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 782,041 shares of the company's stock worth $38,382,000 after acquiring an additional 434,615 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ASTS. Barclays increased their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered AST SpaceMobile from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, March 27th. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $108.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $81.33.

More AST SpaceMobile News

Here are the key news stories impacting AST SpaceMobile this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explosion raised concerns that AST SpaceMobile’s launch schedule could be delayed, which is weighing on sentiment around its 2026 satellite deployment plans. Blue Origin Blast Sends AST SpaceMobile Down 18.5%
• Negative Sentiment: Deutsche Bank downgraded ASTS from Buy to Hold and trimmed its price target, signaling reduced near-term upside after the stock’s sharp run-up. Blue Origin Blast Sends AST SpaceMobile Down 18.5%
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports said the rocket failure could disrupt satellite launches and delay AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird rollout, adding execution risk to an already richly valued stock. AST SpaceMobile Shares Sink After Blue Origin Rocket Explosion
• Negative Sentiment: AST SpaceMobile was also hit by insider-selling news after President Scott Wisniewski sold about $3.3 million of stock, which can add to investor caution even if the sale was relatively small versus his remaining holdings. Insider Selling: AST SpaceMobile NASDAQ: ASTS President Sells 25,904 Shares of Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Bullish commentary continues to emphasize ASTS’s direct-to-smartphone satellite technology, strong cash position, and carrier partnerships, but these longer-term positives are being overshadowed today by launch and valuation concerns. AST SpaceMobile's Next Chapter Changes Everything

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total transaction of $3,555,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $422,180. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.25, for a total transaction of $451,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 565,805 shares in the company, valued at $51,063,901.25. The trade was a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,100,000 shares of company stock valued at $276,048,350. Corporate insiders own 20.89% of the company's stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

AST SpaceMobile stock opened at $113.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 18.47 and a quick ratio of 18.37. The company has a market capitalization of $44.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -63.71 and a beta of 2.70. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a one year low of $22.47 and a one year high of $133.86. The company's fifty day moving average price is $88.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.37.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.43). The business had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 573.67%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.20) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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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