Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys New Position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)

Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 49.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,663,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,531 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter worth $278,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 141.1% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 103,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,716,000 after buying an additional 60,530 shares during the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter valued at about $673,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 2,418.4% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $811,000 after acquiring an additional 29,795 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.26, for a total transaction of $1,091,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 55,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,334,300. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other AST SpaceMobile news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.83, for a total value of $2,066,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 393,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,157,182.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.26, for a total transaction of $1,091,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 55,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,300. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 127,700 shares of company stock worth $3,220,524. 41.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of ASTS opened at $24.26 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 6.38, a quick ratio of 6.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52 week low of $1.97 and a 52 week high of $39.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.80 and a 200-day moving average of $18.01.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $0.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.88 EPS for the current year.

About AST SpaceMobile

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.