Janus Henderson Group PLC Boosts Stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)

Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 209.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,450,467 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,046,667 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 2.91% of AST SpaceMobile worth $21,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Rathbones Group PLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

NASDAQ ASTS opened at $20.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 7.51 and a quick ratio of 7.51. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1.97 and a 1-year high of $21.28. The company has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of -21.10 and a beta of 1.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.83.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $0.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.00 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on ASTS. UBS Group raised their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $7.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $23.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $7.40 to $12.90 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th.

About AST SpaceMobile

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.