Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Increases Stock Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 48.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 532,960 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 172,759 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $26,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 5.2% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 2.8% during the second quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $426,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 0.5% during the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 56,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,646,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ASTS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. B. Riley Financial downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASTS opened at $101.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 9.56 and a quick ratio of 9.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.36 billion, a PE ratio of -82.09 and a beta of 2.70. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.22 and a 1-year high of $129.89. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $88.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.06.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The firm had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The firm’s revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.10) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total transaction of $159,631,314.75. Following the sale, the insider owned 211,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,743,685.25. The trade was a 91.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $349,220. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About AST SpaceMobile

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.