LPL Financial LLC Decreases Holdings in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

LPL Financial LLC cut its position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 80.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,033 shares of the company’s stock after selling 284,667 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $1,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ASTS. Alphabet Inc. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $203,375,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at $59,523,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 8.8% in the fourth 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. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 4.1% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 888,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,208,000 after acquiring an additional 34,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Key Colony Management LLC increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 204.1% during the first quarter. Key Colony Management LLC now owns 596,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,553,000 after acquiring an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASTS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. William Blair started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $45.40 to $42.90 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $38.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.41.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $44.98 on Friday. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.50 and a 1 year high of $60.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.16 and a 200-day moving average of $34.18. The company has a current ratio of 8.23, a quick ratio of 8.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.80 and a beta of 2.33.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by ($0.22). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 7,213.90% and a negative return on equity of 26.81%. The company had revenue of $1.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.08, for a total value of $541,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 315,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,389,265.36. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Scott Wisniewski sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.65, for a total transaction of $1,782,500.00. Following the transaction, the president 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. Insiders sold 129,250 shares of company stock valued at $4,671,650 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 34.15% of the company’s stock.

About AST SpaceMobile

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.