AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Down 3.6% – What’s Next?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s share price traded down 3.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $64.59 and last traded at $66.31. 12,829,769 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 30% from the average daily volume of 18,313,539 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.82.

Key AST SpaceMobile News

Here are the key news stories impacting AST SpaceMobile this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bell Canada completed construction of its first sovereign direct-to-device satellite ground station in Québec, a key step in building Canadian infrastructure that will connect with AST SpaceMobile’s satellite constellation and support future service rollout. Bell successfully completes construction of its first sovereign direct-to-device satellite ground station in Canada
• Positive Sentiment: AST SpaceMobile secured new regulatory authorization in New Zealand for a gateway link, expanding its international network footprint and signaling continued progress on global market access. AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) Secures Global Approvals As Texas Expansion And Launches Near
• Positive Sentiment: BlueBird 11 has arrived at Cape Canaveral, with BlueBirds 12 and 13 scheduled to follow for an August launch, which keeps AST SpaceMobile’s launch cadence on track and supports investor confidence in near-term execution. AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) Secures Global Approvals As Texas Expansion And Launches Near
• Positive Sentiment: Midland is set to consider a $150 million expansion tied to AST SpaceMobile’s Texas manufacturing footprint, a potential catalyst for faster production and job creation if approved. ASTS Stock Snaps 3-Day Losing Streak On ‘Imminent’ BlueBird Launch — Midland Weighs $150M AST SpaceMobile Deal

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ASTS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $117.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $85.09.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 3.6%

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $87.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.74 billion, a PE ratio of -37.25 and a beta of 2.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 18.47 and a quick ratio of 18.37.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.43). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 573.67%.The business had revenue of $14.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.01 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total transaction of $3,854,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 34,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,348,857.50. This trade represents a 53.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Julio A. Torres sold 15,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total transaction of $1,145,100.00. Following the sale, the director owned 43,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,300,865.26. The trade was a 25.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 105,809 shares of company stock valued at $9,748,492. Corporate insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vodafone Ventures Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter worth about $397,413,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $198,270,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,488,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,687,000 after buying an additional 1,568,292 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,661,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,425,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 8,016.7% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,269,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,967 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

About AST SpaceMobile

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.