Truist Financial Corp Acquires Shares of 35,259 AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Truist Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 35,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,731,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ASTS. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 225.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 650 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Chapman Financial Group LLC bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $101.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 9.48, a current ratio of 9.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.36 billion, a PE ratio of -82.09 and a beta of 2.70. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.22 and a twelve month high of $129.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $88.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.99.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.10) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ASTS. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. B. Riley Financial lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $45.66.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total transaction of $2,940,800.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at $349,220. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total value of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 211,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,743,685.25. This trade represents a 91.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 2,765 shares of company stock worth $187,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About AST SpaceMobile

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.