31,020,155 Shares in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS Acquired by Rakuten Group Inc.

Key Points

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Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund 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 portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Rakuten Group Inc. owned about 9.80% of AST SpaceMobile as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ASTS. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth $203,375,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter worth $59,523,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth $9,218,000. Key Colony Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 204.1% during the first quarter. Key Colony Management LLC now owns 596,000 shares of the company's stock worth $13,553,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth $7,294,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Scott Wisniewski sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.65, for a total value of $1,782,500.00. Following the sale, the president directly owned 545,595 shares in the company, valued at $19,450,461.75. This represents a 8.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.84, for a total transaction of $418,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 305,667 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,107.28. This represents a 3.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,250 shares of company stock worth $4,671,650 over the last ninety days. 34.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $45.40 to $42.90 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.41.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

Shares of ASTS stock traded up $2.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $47.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,521,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,621,618. The business has a fifty day moving average of $49.33 and a 200-day moving average of $34.34. The stock has a market cap of $16.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.90 and a beta of 2.33. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.50 and a twelve month high of $60.95. The company has a current ratio of 8.23, a quick ratio of 8.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $6.37 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 7,213.90% and a negative return on equity of 26.81%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current 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.