AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Sees Strong Trading Volume – What’s Next?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 8,458,905 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 30% from the previous session’s volume of 12,159,610 shares.The stock last traded at $79.7770 and had previously closed at $85.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday. Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Barclays downgraded 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 report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 6.5%

The stock has a market cap of $29.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -64.58 and a beta of 2.76. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.27. The company has a quick ratio of 9.48, a current ratio of 9.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted 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 business had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.10) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $560,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 387,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,699,160. This trade represents a 2.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 382,375 shares in the company, valued at $29,572,882.50. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders purchased 2,140 shares of company stock valued at $137,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ASTS. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 82.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 8,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 4,069 shares during the period. Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 22.8% in the third quarter. Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. now owns 329,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,153,000 after purchasing an additional 61,111 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 138.0% during the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after buying an additional 19,065 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 34.5% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 46.4% during the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 4,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares during the period. 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.