Griffin Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 62.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,096 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,541 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $2,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $85.09.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total value of $3,854,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 34,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,348,857.50. This trade represents a 53.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total value of $1,145,100.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 43,239 shares in the company, valued at $3,300,865.26. This represents a 25.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,145,809 shares of company stock valued at $280,645,292. Corporate insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 1.4%

ASTS opened at $73.88 on Friday. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.08 and a twelve month high of $133.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $87.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.81. The stock has a market cap of $28.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.51 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 issued 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 return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 573.67%.The company had revenue of $14.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.01 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.20) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

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.