Saudi Central Bank more than doubled its AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) stake as the company approaches a critical satellite launch scheduled for early August.
ASTS shares jumped 10% on Thursday, but the stock remains down 34% for the month, putting it on track for its worst monthly performance in more than two years.
Quarter-end holdings data from Quiver Quantitative reveal that Saudi Central Bank added 8,348 shares, bringing its total position to 16,652 shares.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust added 95,347 shares to boost its position by 23%, reaching a total holding of 513,192 shares in the company.
Pictet Asset Management raised its holding by 9% to 86,920 shares, while Maryland State Retirement increased its stake by 25% during the same period.
ACT Capital Management opened a new 43,500-share position, and ALPS Advisors added 2,574 shares, signaling continued institutional confidence despite the monthly price decline.
Not all institutions were buyers, however, as Ethic cut its position by 32% and Hazlett, Burt and Watson reduced its stake by 17%.
AST SpaceMobile confirmed that BlueBird satellites 11, 12 and 13 are scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Aug. 5, with liftoff targeted for 3:42 a.m. ET.
The mission follows the successful June deployment of BlueBirds 8, 9 and 10, with satellites 14, 15 and 16 already being prepared for the following mission and production having advanced through satellite 42.
President Scott Wisniewski said, “The upcoming launch of BlueBirds 11, 12, and 13 showcases our ability to rapidly and consistently build, launch, and deploy the largest phased arrays in low Earth orbit.”
The next-generation satellites are expected to deliver nearly twice the peak download speeds of AST’s initial Block 1 spacecraft, which have already demonstrated speeds of 98.9 Mbps directly to standard smartphones.
Vodafone reaffirmed its commitment to AST this week even after the company pushed its target for having 45 satellites available into early 2027 from an original late 2026 timeline.
Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle said, “It definitely is worth us working on it,” when asked whether launch delays had weakened the partnership between the two companies.
Della Valle made clear that Vodafone’s ambitions for the service go beyond basic connectivity, stating, “We want something more than just text messaging.”
“We want our customers to be able to essentially not realize whether their service is coming from an antenna in the center of London or a satellite,” Della Valle added, outlining the company’s vision for seamless coverage.
Della Valle acknowledged that execution remains tied to external factors, noting, “Our timelines are very much dependent on rockets,” as Vodafone targets the U.K. as AST’s planned first European launch market.
AST currently holds agreements with nearly 60 mobile operators representing more than 3 billion subscribers, including AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone and Rakuten.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for ASTS was tracked as “bearish” amid “low” message volume as investors await next week’s launch milestone.
One Stocktwits user wrote, “$ASTS while we were stressing, ASTS kept building. Launch next week, a ways upward to go before we touch max pain, more premarket volume than we’ve had, and seemingly a hard quadruple bottom.”
Despite the turbulent July, ASTS stock has risen 8% over the past year, with the upcoming BlueBird launch now widely viewed as the next key catalyst for a potential price recovery.
