AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Down 8.9% – What’s Next?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was down 8.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $108.67 and last traded at $111.21. Approximately 19,585,312 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 9% from the average daily volume of 17,932,781 shares. The stock had previously closed at $122.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ASTS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Scotiabank cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. B. Riley cut AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays downgraded AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Three investment 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 8.9%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $83.89 and a 200 day moving average of $67.33. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $40.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -89.68 and a beta of 2.70.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total value of $773,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 382,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,572,882.50. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,034,567.36. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders purchased 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 107.2% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 1,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. 5th Street Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth about $204,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 75,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,453,000 after buying an additional 4,883 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 61,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,464,000 after buying an additional 7,906 shares during the last quarter. 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.