Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $40.65 Million Stock Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 9.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 491,843 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,113 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $40,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Calton & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 13,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $986,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its stake 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 valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 6.6% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.81, for a total transaction of $4,297,342.29. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 503,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,244,498.39. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the chief technology officer owned 34,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,348,857.50. This trade represents a 53.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 105,809 shares of company stock valued at $9,748,492 over the last three months. Company insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on ASTS. B. Riley Financial raised AST SpaceMobile from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 17th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. New Street Research set a $106.00 price target on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.60.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

Shares of ASTS stock opened at $63.52 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $80.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 18.37 and a current ratio of 18.47. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.08 and a 52-week high of $133.86. The stock has a market cap of $24.65 billion, a PE ratio of -35.69 and a beta of 2.76.

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). The business had revenue of $14.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. The business’s revenue was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.20) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.38 EPS for the current 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.