Toronto Dominion Bank Acquires New Stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)

Toronto Dominion Bank purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 200,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,220,000. Toronto Dominion Bank owned about 0.07% of AST SpaceMobile as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 49.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,987,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $316,233,000 after buying an additional 4,955,941 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,496,825 shares of the company's stock worth $73,801,000 after acquiring an additional 229,759 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter valued at $59,523,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,266,713 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,728,000 after buying an additional 135,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,233,056 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,017,000 after purchasing an additional 100,153 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on ASTS shares. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, May 5th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $47.90 to $45.40 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Roth Capital started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $42.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Julio A. Torres sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.73, for a total transaction of $614,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 52,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,617,258.44. This represents a 27.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.82, for a total value of $1,475,100.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 34.15% of the company's stock.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

NASDAQ:ASTS traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $24.79. The stock had a trading volume of 9,358,112 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,547,753. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.85 billion, a PE ratio of -11.66 and a beta of 2.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 5.80 and a current ratio of 5.80. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $24.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.57. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52 week low of $4.65 and a 52 week high of $39.08.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $0.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.85 million. As a group, 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.