Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Makes New Investment in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $331,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ASTS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 57.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 641,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,539,000 after purchasing an additional 234,517 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 554.5% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 3,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 2,950 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 667.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 4,743 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,266,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,728,000 after buying an additional 135,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 37,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Roth Capital began coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price objective on the stock. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up previously from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.40 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.84, for a total value of $418,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 305,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,107.28. This trade represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 4,250 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.60, for a total transaction of $147,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 20,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $717,950. The trade was a 17.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 184,250 shares of company stock valued at $6,146,750. 34.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

ASTS opened at $45.88 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 10.62, a current ratio of 10.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $14.52 billion, a PE ratio of -23.05 and a beta of 2.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.41. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.98 and a fifty-two week high of $54.05.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $0.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.85 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 7,033.22% and a negative return on equity of 23.56%. As a group, equities analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AST SpaceMobile 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.