AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS Shares Acquired by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 22.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,664 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,239 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $1,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Alphabet Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth $203,375,000. Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth $705,398,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth $14,750,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter worth $21,754,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 14.0% during the second quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 77,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,606,000 after buying an additional 9,448 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 20,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.48, for a total transaction of $1,049,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 397,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,860,012.80. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total transaction of $1,623,200.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at $192,755. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

AST SpaceMobile stock opened at $70.38 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $25.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.24 and a beta of 2.46. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.41. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.50 and a 12-month high of $102.79. The company has a current ratio of 8.23, a quick ratio of 8.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $1.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 26.81% and a negative net margin of 7,213.90%. Equities analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays lowered AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $45.27.

AST SpaceMobile 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.