Truist Financial Corp Acquires New Stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Key Points

• Truist Financial bought a new position of 35,259 shares of AST SpaceMobile in Q3, valued at approximately $1.73 million.
• Major shareholder Tower Corp sold 2,288,621 shares on Dec. 9 for about $159.6 million, and insiders net sold 2,354,621 shares (vs. 2,765 purchased) in the past three months, with insiders owning 30.90% of the stock.
• Shares have rallied (opened at $101.79) giving AST a $37.36 billion market cap, but the firm is unprofitable (last quarter EPS -$0.45) and the consensus analyst rating is a "Reduce" with a $45.66 target price.

Truist Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 35,259 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,731,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ASTS. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 11.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,548 shares of the company's stock worth $786,000 after acquiring an additional 3,642 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,764 shares of the company's stock worth $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 3,515 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 467,626 shares of the company's stock worth $10,634,000 after purchasing an additional 64,989 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 325,621 shares of the company's stock worth $7,405,000 after purchasing an additional 49,811 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at $168,000. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total transaction of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 211,379 shares in the company, valued at $14,743,685.25. This trade represents a 91.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $442,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 122,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders purchased 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley Financial downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Scotiabank cut AST SpaceMobile from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector underperform" rating and set a $45.60 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Barclays downgraded AST SpaceMobile from an "overweight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 9.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $101.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a current ratio of 9.56. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.22 and a 52-week high of $129.89. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $88.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.99. The firm has a market cap of $37.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -82.09 and a beta of 2.70.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.27). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The firm had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.10) earnings per share. AST SpaceMobile's revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS 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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