New York State Common Retirement Fund Increases Stock Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 96,367 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,500 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $4,730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 28.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 761,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,569,000 after buying an additional 167,416 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 170.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 569,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,620,000 after purchasing an additional 359,335 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 610.4% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 475,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,222,000 after purchasing an additional 408,595 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% during the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,754,000. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on ASTS shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Scotiabank lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays cut AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $45.66.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,220. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $560,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 387,485 shares in the company, valued at $21,699,160. This trade represents a 2.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders acquired 2,765 shares of company stock worth $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. Insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $101.79 on Friday. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.22 and a 12-month high of $129.89. The firm has a market cap of $37.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -82.09 and a beta of 2.70. The company’s 50-day moving average is $88.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.91. The company has a current ratio of 9.56, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The firm had revenue of $14.74 million during 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 quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.10) EPS. Research analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

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.