Janus Henderson Group PLC Sells 35,264 Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Janus Henderson Group PLC reduced its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,634,803 shares of the company’s stock after selling 35,264 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $218,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 16,350.0% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Key AST SpaceMobile News

Here are the key news stories impacting AST SpaceMobile this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank upgraded AST SpaceMobile from “sector underperform” to “sector perform,” citing the company’s strategic partnerships and upcoming satellite launches as potential growth catalysts. However, its $50.80 price target remains below the recently cited share price, indicating limited near-term upside in the analyst’s view. ASTS Stock’s Valuation Is Now In a Grey Area
• Positive Sentiment: Renewed confidence from Elon Musk in lunar and Mars missions helped lift sentiment across space-related stocks. Although the commentary was not specific to ASTS, broader sector momentum could improve investor interest in satellite and launch companies. SPCX, ASTS, RKLB Find a Floor After Brutal July
• Neutral Sentiment: Brokerages collectively give AST SpaceMobile an average “hold” recommendation, reflecting uncertainty over valuation, execution, launch timing and the company’s ability to scale its satellite-to-phone network. AST SpaceMobile Given Average Recommendation of Hold
• Neutral Sentiment: One valuation review described ASTS as being in a “grey area” after its substantial decline since January. While some retail investors consider the stock significantly undervalued, the debate highlights continued uncertainty about its growth prospects and fair value. A Look at AST SpaceMobile After a 6.2% Decline
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon’s planned satellite constellation increases competitive pressure on SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile. A larger rival ecosystem could raise customer-acquisition costs and contribute to margin-compression risks for ASTS. Amazon’s Satellite Push Raises the Stakes
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of ASTS investors. The announcement does not establish wrongdoing, but securities-law investigations can create legal uncertainty and weigh on investor confidence. Pomerantz Law Firm Investor Alert

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Scotiabank raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.80 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.60.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASTS opened at $58.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.68 billion, a PE ratio of -32.83 and a beta of 2.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 18.47 and a quick ratio of 18.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $82.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.54. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.08 and a fifty-two week high of $133.86.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.43). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 573.67%.The company had revenue of $14.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.01 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.20) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.81, for a total transaction of $4,297,342.29. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 503,619 shares in the company, valued at $47,244,498.39. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Julio A. Torres sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total transaction of $1,145,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 43,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,300,865.26. This represents a 25.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 105,809 shares of company stock valued at $9,748,492 over the last quarter. 20.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.