Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 417,845 AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 417,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,627,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ASTS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,488,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,560,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,292 shares during the period. Vodafone Ventures Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter worth about $397,413,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 44.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,661,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425,199 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,522,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,749,000 after buying an additional 402,505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,951,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,011,000 after purchasing an additional 350,690 shares during the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.81, for a total value of $4,297,342.29. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 503,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,244,498.39. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,350,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 1,455,809 shares of company stock valued at $126,145,492 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 7.8%

Shares of NASDAQ ASTS opened at $67.58 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $87.31 and its 200 day moving average is $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 market cap of $26.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.97 and a beta of 2.69. 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 earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.43). The firm had revenue of $14.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 573.67%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.20) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on ASTS shares. Wall Street Zen lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. B. Riley Financial upped their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, New Street Research set a $106.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $85.09.

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.