Principal Financial Group Inc. Makes New $202,000 Investment in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ASTS. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 61.9% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 388.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth $45,000. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 4,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.60, for a total value of $147,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 20,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $717,950. This represents a 17.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Scott Wisniewski sold 50,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 545,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,450,461.75. This represents a 8.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 184,250 shares of company stock valued at $6,146,750. Corporate insiders own 41.80% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

ASTS stock opened at $57.98 on Monday. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.37 and a 1-year high of $58.08. The firm has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a PE ratio of -29.14 and a beta of 2.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.32. The company has a current ratio of 10.62, a quick ratio of 10.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $0.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.85 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 23.56% and a negative net margin of 7,033.22%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ASTS shares. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price (up previously from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Bank of America assumed coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.40 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Oppenheimer began coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Roth Capital initiated coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.34.

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.