AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Down 8% – What’s Next?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares dropped 8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $74.10 and last traded at $74.21. Approximately 12,937,974 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 18,673,717 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.64.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASTS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $106.00 in a report on Friday, May 29th. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, New Street Research set a $106.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $85.09.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 18.47 and a quick ratio of 18.37. The firm has a market cap of $29.17 billion, a PE ratio of -42.23 and a beta of 2.69.

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

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,350,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total value of $116,397,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,980,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,412,448,964.10. The trade was a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $3,854,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 34,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,348,857.50. This represents a 53.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,145,809 shares of company stock valued at $280,645,292. 20.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vodafone Ventures Ltd purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter worth about $397,413,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter valued at about $198,270,000. Clear Street Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $90,129,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,568,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.