Calamos Advisors LLC Raises Stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Calamos Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 3,880.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 386,123 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 376,423 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $31,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vodafone Ventures Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter valued at $397,413,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at about $198,270,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,488,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,292 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 44.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,661,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,569,000 after buying an additional 1,425,199 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 8,016.7% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,269,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,967 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,350,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total value of $116,397,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,980,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,412,448,964.10. This trade represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Julio A. Torres sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was 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 $3,300,865.26. This trade represents a 25.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 1,455,809 shares of company stock worth $126,145,492 over the last three months. Company insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 7.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $67.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 18.37 and a current ratio of 18.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.97 and a beta of 2.69. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.08 and a 1-year high of $133.86. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.59.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. The company had revenue of $14.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.20) EPS. AST SpaceMobile’s quarterly revenue was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASTS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, May 29th. New Street Research set a $106.00 price target on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $106.00 in a report on Friday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $85.09.

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.