AST SpaceMobile Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:ASTS)

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 141,327 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 23% compared to the average volume of 114,571 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up previously from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, June 16th. William Blair initiated coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Thursday, August 21st. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $45.40 to $42.90 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total transaction of $1,623,200.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,755. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.48, for a total value of $1,049,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 397,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,860,012.80. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 41.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASTS. Rakuten Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter valued at approximately $705,398,000. Alphabet Inc. bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter worth $203,375,000. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 1,992.5% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 843,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,182,000 after buying an additional 803,240 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth about $14,750,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter worth about $21,754,000. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 10.0%

AST SpaceMobile stock traded up $4.90 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $53.75. The stock had a trading volume of 20,005,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,720,036. The stock has a market cap of $19.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.60 and a beta of 2.43. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $48.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.59. The company has a current ratio of 8.23, a quick ratio of 8.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. AST SpaceMobile has a 12 month low of $17.50 and a 12 month high of $60.95.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $1.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 7,213.90% and a negative return on equity of 26.81%. Research analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.4 EPS 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.