Legal & General Group Plc Has $16.88 Million Stock Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 26.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 232,436 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,318 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $16,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 48.0% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 532,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,158,000 after purchasing an additional 172,759 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter worth approximately $1,882,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,649,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 1,062.9% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 77,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,665,000 after purchasing an additional 71,287 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 28.0% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 31,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,550,000 after purchasing an additional 6,901 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,690,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.42, for a total transaction of $154,499,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 29,330,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,681,362,770.10. The trade was a 5.45% 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, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.25, for a total transaction of $451,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 565,805 shares in the company, valued at $51,063,901.25. This trade represents a 0.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,100,000 shares of company stock worth $276,048,350. 20.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, March 27th. New Street Research set a $106.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $81.33.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 6.8%

NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $105.65 on Tuesday. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.72 and a 12 month high of $133.86. The firm has a market cap of $41.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -59.35 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a quick ratio of 18.37, a current ratio of 18.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $88.29 and its 200-day moving average is $85.64.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.43). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. The firm had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.20) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 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.