Rakuten Group Inc. Makes New $705.40 Million Investment in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

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Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 31,020,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $705,398,000. AST SpaceMobile makes up about 84.4% of Rakuten Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Rakuten Group Inc. owned approximately 9.80% of AST SpaceMobile as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASTS. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 61.9% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 388.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter valued at $41,000. Close Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 72.4% in the first quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,810 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ASTS. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $62.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Oppenheimer began coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $45.40 to $42.90 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $44.00 target price (up previously from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, June 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AST SpaceMobile news, President Scott Wisniewski sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.65, for a total transaction of $1,782,500.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 4,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.60, for a total value of $147,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 20,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $717,950. The trade was a 17.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,250 shares of company stock valued at $4,671,650. 41.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $48.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a PE ratio of -25.48 and a beta of 2.33. The business's fifty day moving average price is $48.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 8.23 and a quick ratio of 8.23. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.50 and a 12 month high of $60.95.

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

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.

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