Private Advisor Group LLC Cuts Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Private Advisor Group LLC decreased its position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 62.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,131 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,136 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $1,088,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter valued at $29,000. 60.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 53.51% decrease in their position. The sale 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, Director Julio A. Torres sold 15,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director owned 43,239 shares in the company, valued at $3,300,865.26. The trade was a 25.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 1,455,809 shares of company stock worth $126,145,492 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on ASTS. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. New Street Research set a $106.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $85.09.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 7.8%

Shares of ASTS opened at $67.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $26.23 billion, a PE ratio of -37.97 and a beta of 2.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $87.31 and a 200 day moving average of $89.59. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.08 and a 52-week high of $133.86. The company has a quick ratio of 18.37, a current ratio of 18.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) 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 firm had revenue of $14.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.20) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 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.