Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 50,092 Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Bank of Nova Scotia decreased its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 190,057 shares of the company’s stock after selling 50,092 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $8,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ASTS. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter worth $291,000. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at about $394,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at about $340,000. Diametric Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter worth about $384,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter worth about $231,000. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, Director Adriana Cisneros purchased 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $50.79 per share, with a total value of $38,092.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 784,077 shares in the company, valued at $39,823,270.83. The trade was a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 10,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $560,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 387,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,699,160. This trade represents a 2.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 96,000 shares of company stock worth $5,566,560 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ASTS. Barclays cut AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday. UBS Group cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 8.5%

ASTS stock opened at $79.05 on Thursday. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a one year low of $17.50 and a one year high of $102.79. The stock has a market cap of $29.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -63.75 and a beta of 2.76. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $70.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 9.56 and a quick ratio of 9.48.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. AST SpaceMobile’s revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.10) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

AST SpaceMobile, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops and provides access to a space-based cellular broadband network for smartphones in the United States. Its SpaceMobile service provides cellular broadband services to end-users who are out of terrestrial cellular coverage. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.