Royal Bank of Canada Raises Stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. $ASTS

Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) by 10.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 326,082 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,521 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in AST SpaceMobile were worth $27,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 16,350.0% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Portus Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting AST SpaceMobile

Here are the key news stories impacting AST SpaceMobile this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AST SpaceMobile is scheduled to launch BlueBird satellites 11–13 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on Aug. 5. The mission is an important step toward expanding the company’s direct-to-smartphone broadband constellation, while the satellites’ reported Guinness World Record recognition added publicity and investor enthusiasm. ASTS Stock Hits Nearly 3-Week High: Meta Exec Teases WhatsApp Over Satellite Ahead Of BlueBird Launch
• Positive Sentiment: A Meta executive highlighted work related to bringing WhatsApp connectivity over satellites, reinforcing expectations that AST SpaceMobile could benefit from partnerships supporting satellite-to-device communications. AST SpaceMobile gains as Meta executive highlights WhatsApp satellite workshop
• Positive Sentiment: Short interest reportedly declined to approximately 19.9% of the public float from 21.7% the prior week. The reduction may ease short-selling pressure ahead of the BlueBird launch, although short interest remains elevated. ASTS Short Interest Drops Below 20% Ahead Of BlueBird Launch
• Neutral Sentiment: ASTS participated in a broader rally among space stocks as traders positioned around SpaceX’s first public earnings report. The sector-wide move may support near-term sentiment but does not directly change AST SpaceMobile’s fundamentals. Space stocks rally ahead of SpaceX earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are awaiting AST SpaceMobile’s Aug. 10 second-quarter earnings report. Analysts and pre-earnings commentary question the likelihood of an earnings beat, while competition, execution risk and the company’s history of losses could increase volatility. Is AST SpaceMobile Stock a Smart Buy Before Q2 Earnings Release?
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of AST SpaceMobile investors. The investigation does not establish wrongdoing, but it introduces headline and potential litigation risk. Pomerantz investor investigation

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. New Street Research set a $106.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $106.00 in a report on Friday, May 29th. Piper Sandler started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank raised AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.80 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research 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 assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $87.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total transaction of $3,854,800.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 34,750 shares in the company, valued at $3,348,857.50. This represents a 53.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Julio A. Torres sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total value of $1,145,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 43,239 shares in the company, valued at $3,300,865.26. This represents a 25.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 105,809 shares of company stock worth $9,748,492 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 10.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $70.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 18.47 and a quick ratio of 18.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.29 billion, a PE ratio of -39.50 and a beta of 2.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $79.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.88. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.08 and a 1 year high of $133.86.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. Analysts predict 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.