AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $103.50, but opened at $109.68. AST SpaceMobile shares last traded at $108.4550, with a volume of 4,842,945 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on ASTS shares. B. Riley cut AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Zacks Research cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 15.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 9.56 and a quick ratio of 9.48. The company has a market cap of $43.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -95.80 and a beta of 2.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.99.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.10) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AST SpaceMobile news, 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 transaction of $442,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 122,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total value of $2,940,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,220. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. Company insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 11.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,000 after acquiring an additional 3,642 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 3,515 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 467,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,634,000 after purchasing an additional 64,989 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 325,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,405,000 after buying an additional 49,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $168,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.