IFM Investors Pty Ltd Makes New Investment in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

IFM Investors Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 57,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,804,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,000 after acquiring an additional 3,642 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 3,515 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 467,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,634,000 after purchasing an additional 64,989 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 325,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,405,000 after purchasing an additional 49,811 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter valued at about $168,000. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $85.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $33.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.83 and a beta of 2.69. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.08 and a 1 year high of $133.86. The company has a current ratio of 18.47, a quick ratio of 18.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.44.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its 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 $14.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.20) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total value of $3,854,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 34,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,348,857.50. The trade was a 53.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.81, for a total value of $4,297,342.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 503,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,244,498.39. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,145,809 shares of company stock worth $280,645,292. Insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASTS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $106.00 in a report on Friday, May 29th. B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $85.09.

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.