The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Raises Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 31.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,209 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,391 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter worth about $259,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 319.0% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 163,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $985,000 after purchasing an additional 124,322 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth approximately $45,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at $580,000. Finally, BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter worth $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ASTS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $22.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $13.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $28.00 to $45.90 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $26.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

ASTS stock opened at $24.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.74 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 6.38 and a current ratio of 6.38. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1 year low of $1.97 and a 1 year high of $39.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.75.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $0.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.00 million. On average, equities analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.83, for a total value of $2,066,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 393,232 shares in the company, valued at $10,157,182.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other AST SpaceMobile news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 80,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.83, for a total transaction of $2,066,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 393,232 shares in the company, valued at $10,157,182.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Scott Wisniewski sold 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.12, for a total value of $62,424.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 712,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,476,699.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 127,700 shares of company stock valued at $3,220,524. Corporate insiders own 56.56% of the company’s stock.

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.