AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $75.84, but opened at $79.66. AST SpaceMobile shares last traded at $81.6210, with a volume of 2,092,134 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. UBS Group downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Barclays cut AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 13.4%

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.50. The company has a market capitalization of $31.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.42 and a beta of 2.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a current ratio of 9.56.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.AST SpaceMobile’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 earned ($1.10) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total transaction of $2,940,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at $349,220. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total transaction of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 211,379 shares in the company, valued at $14,743,685.25. This represents a 91.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 2,140 shares of company stock worth $137,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. Corporate insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASTS. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 82.6% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 8,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 4,069 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. grew its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter. Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. now owns 329,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,153,000 after buying an additional 61,111 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. increased its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 138.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,614,000 after acquiring an additional 19,065 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 34.5% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 46.4% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 4,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.