California Public Employees Retirement System Has $29.08 Million Stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 5.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 350,929 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,426 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $29,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Calton & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 13,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $986,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 923 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about AST SpaceMobile

Here are the key news stories impacting AST SpaceMobile this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AST SpaceMobile completed a private offering of $1.15 billion of convertible senior notes due 2034, giving the company significant added capital to fund satellite deployment and operations. AST SpaceMobile Announces Completion of Private Offering of $1.15 Billion of Convertible Senior Notes Due 2034
• Positive Sentiment: The stock is also benefiting from a broader risk-on move in space names, with investors rotating back into speculative aerospace and satellite stocks. AST SpaceMobile Catapults 12%, SpaceX Rises 7%, Virgin Galactic and Rocket Lab Rally as Space Stock Trade Takes a Risk-on Turn
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and market commentators are framing the recent pullback as an opportunity, arguing the new funding strengthens ASTS’s ability to pursue its long-term satellite network buildout. AST SpaceMobile: Convertible Notes Accelerate Its Full Potential (Rating Upgrade)
• Neutral Sentiment: AST SpaceMobile is also getting attention from a Midland factory expansion approval tied to its local footprint, which could support future manufacturing capacity but does not have an immediate financial impact. ASTS Stock Jumps Premarket: Midland Approves Factory Nearly 5x Larger Than AST SpaceMobile’s Original Plant
• Negative Sentiment: Bearish commentary is also weighing on sentiment, including Jim Cramer’s view that AST SpaceMobile is “losing a fortune”, reinforcing concerns about cash burn and execution risk. ‘That Thing Has Just Been Crushed’: Cramer On This Tech Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Pomerantz LLP announced an investigation on behalf of ASTS investors, which could add legal overhang and uncertainty for shareholders. INVESTOR ALERT: Pomerantz Law Firm Investigates Claims On Behalf of Investors of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. – ASTS

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. New Street Research set a $106.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of AST SpaceMobile 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 503,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,244,498.39. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 105,809 shares of company stock worth $9,748,492 in the last ninety days. 20.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 10.3%

ASTS stock opened at $63.34 on Wednesday. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.08 and a 52 week high of $133.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.05. The company has a quick ratio of 18.37, a current ratio of 18.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $24.58 billion, a PE ratio of -35.58 and a beta of 2.69.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) 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 firm had revenue of $14.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.01 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.20) earnings per share. AST SpaceMobile’s quarterly revenue was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.