Ethic Inc. Acquires Shares of 7,444 AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Ethic Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $365,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ASTS. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 342.2% during the second quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 132,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,172,000 after acquiring an additional 102,217 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter worth approximately $21,754,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 77,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,606,000 after purchasing an additional 9,448 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 28,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,339,000 after purchasing an additional 5,239 shares during the period. Finally, PAX Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter valued at $822,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 8.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $90.92 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $68.94 and its 200 day moving average is $59.67. 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 capitalization of $33.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -73.32 and a beta of 2.70.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (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 net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. The business’s revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.10) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares in the company, valued at $9,034,567.36. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total value of $2,940,800.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,220. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 2,765 shares of company stock worth $187,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASTS has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Scotiabank raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.66.

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.