AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Up 2.9% – Time to Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s share price rose 2.9% on Monday . The company traded as high as $74.89 and last traded at $74.0480. Approximately 5,115,719 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 12,251,875 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays downgraded AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Zacks Research cut AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 1.3%

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $68.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.12. The stock has a market cap of $26.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -58.65 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.

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

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider owned 211,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,743,685.25. This represents a 91.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders purchased 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ASTS. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 5.2% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 3.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

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.