Yarbrough Capital LLC Buys 21,739 Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Yarbrough Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,372 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,739 shares during the period. Yarbrough Capital LLC’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $4,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 342.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 132,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,172,000 after purchasing an additional 102,217 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter worth approximately $21,754,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 14.0% during the second quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 77,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,606,000 after buying an additional 9,448 shares during the last quarter. Sender Co & Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 44.8% during the first quarter. Sender Co & Partners Inc. now owns 295,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,717,000 after acquiring an additional 91,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 28,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,339,000 after acquiring an additional 5,239 shares in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $72.63 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.71. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.50 and a 52 week high of $102.79. The stock has a market cap of $26.66 billion, a PE ratio of -58.57 and a beta of 2.76. The company has a quick ratio of 9.48, a current ratio of 9.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.10) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Barclays lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.66.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $773,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 382,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,572,882.50. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.