Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC Raises Stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 35.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,663 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,487 shares during the quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $1,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Binnacle Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Chapman Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on ASTS shares. UBS Group downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Barclays lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 17th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price target for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.66.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total transaction of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 211,379 shares in the company, valued at $14,743,685.25. This represents a 91.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total value of $773,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 382,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,572,882.50. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 2,140 shares of company stock worth $137,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. Corporate insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 15.0%

Shares of ASTS stock opened at $75.84 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 9.56 and a quick ratio of 9.48. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.50 and a 1-year high of $102.79. The firm has a market cap of $27.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -61.16 and a beta of 2.76.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.10) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current 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.