AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Up 8.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) were up 8.4% during trading on Monday after B. Riley raised their price target on the stock from $36.00 to $44.00. B. Riley currently has a buy rating on the stock. AST SpaceMobile traded as high as $42.93 and last traded at $41.59. Approximately 9,287,479 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average daily volume of 12,390,320 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.37.

A number of other analysts have also commented on ASTS. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Roth Capital began coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $47.90 to $45.40 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, May 5th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 4,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.60, for a total value of $147,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 20,750 shares in the company, valued at $717,950. This represents a 17.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Scott Wisniewski sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.65, for a total transaction of $1,782,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 545,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,450,461.75. The trade was a 8.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 174,250 shares of company stock worth $5,728,350 over the last three months. 34.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 61.9% during the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 5.9% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 10,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 72.4% during the first quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 15.6% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 106.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $25.74 and a 200 day moving average of $25.08. The company has a market capitalization of $13.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.61 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a quick ratio of 5.80, a current ratio of 5.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $0.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.85 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

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.