Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys 19,405 Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 76.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,759 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 19,405 shares during the period. AST SpaceMobile accounts for about 1.1% of Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $3,251,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ASTS. Investmark Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 781 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASTS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. New Street Research set a $115.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday. B. Riley Financial lowered their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $82.51.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total value of $3,555,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $422,180. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,350,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total transaction of $116,397,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,980,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,412,448,964.10. This trade represents a 4.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,080,000 shares of company stock valued at $274,452,000. Corporate insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASTS opened at $78.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -59.66 and a beta of 2.81. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $87.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.69. The company has a current ratio of 16.35, a quick ratio of 16.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.07 and a 1-year high of $129.89.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $54.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.53 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 482.16% and a negative return on equity of 23.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2731.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AST SpaceMobile 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.