AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Up 14% – What’s Next?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) rose 14% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $87.03 and last traded at $86.48. Approximately 18,294,156 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 50% from the average daily volume of 12,171,176 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $31.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.74 and a beta of 2.76. The company has a current ratio of 9.56, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.50.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.10) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $560,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 387,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,699,160. This represents a 2.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $773,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 382,375 shares in the company, valued at $29,572,882.50. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,140 shares of company stock worth $137,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ASTS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 13.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,919,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,668,000 after acquiring an additional 2,351,539 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $90,129,000. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 1,992.5% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 843,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,182,000 after purchasing an additional 803,240 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter worth approximately $14,750,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $21,754,000. 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.