SG Americas Securities LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• SG Americas Securities LLC cut its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 25.9% in Q4, selling 22,188 shares and leaving it with 63,344 shares valued at about $4.6 million.
• CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares at an average price of $88.88 for roughly $3.56 million, reducing her holding by ~89%; insiders now own 30.90% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but mostly cautious — MarketBeat reports an average rating of Reduce with an average target of $63.77, even as UBS raised its target to $85.

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) by 25.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,344 shares of the company's stock after selling 22,188 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $4,601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ASTS. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 48.0% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 532,960 shares of the company's stock worth $26,158,000 after buying an additional 172,759 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 342.2% during the second quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 132,087 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,172,000 after buying an additional 102,217 shares during the last quarter. Yarbrough Capital LLC raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 28.0% in the third quarter. Yarbrough Capital LLC now owns 99,372 shares of the company's stock worth $4,877,000 after acquiring an additional 21,739 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the third quarter worth approximately $1,882,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al boosted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 27,500 shares of the company's stock worth $1,350,000 after acquiring an additional 6,100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research upgraded AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $43.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. B. Riley Financial reduced their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Scotiabank cut AST SpaceMobile from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector underperform" rating and set a $45.60 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $63.77.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total value of $3,555,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 30.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of ASTS stock opened at $83.99 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -63.63 and a beta of 2.80. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a one year low of $18.22 and a one year high of $129.89. The company's fifty day moving average price is $93.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 16.35 and a quick ratio of 16.27.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.08). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 23.02% and a negative net margin of 482.16%.The firm had revenue of $54.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.53 million. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2731.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About AST SpaceMobile

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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