AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Down 3.5% – Here’s Why

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares fell 3.5% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $63.72 and last traded at $65.62. 22,154,095 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 19% from the average session volume of 18,625,115 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One 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 has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $85.09.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 3.5%

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $87.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.31. The company has a current ratio of 18.47, a quick ratio of 18.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $25.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.87 and a beta of 2.70.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.20) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,690,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.42, for a total value of $154,499,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 29,330,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,681,362,770.10. The trade was a 5.45% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,145,809 shares of company stock worth $280,645,292. 20.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vodafone Ventures Ltd bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at about $397,413,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth about $198,270,000. Clear Street Group Inc. acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at about $90,129,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% in 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 stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 44.0% in the fourth 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. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.