AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Down 10.5% – Should You Sell?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s stock price fell 10.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $78.52 and last traded at $78.67. 14,626,547 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 2% from the average session volume of 14,935,337 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASTS has been the topic of several analyst reports. B. Riley Financial reduced their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Scotiabank lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $43.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $63.77.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 16.27 and a current ratio of 16.35. The stock has a market cap of $30.05 billion, a PE ratio of -59.60 and a beta of 2.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $95.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.11.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.08). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 482.16% and a negative return on equity of 23.02%. The company had revenue of $54.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.53 million. The company’s revenue was up 2731.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total value of $3,555,200.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $422,180. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ASTS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,488,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,560,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,292 shares during the period. Vodafone Ventures Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $397,413,000. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 valued at $338,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425,199 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,522,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,749,000 after purchasing an additional 402,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,951,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,011,000 after purchasing an additional 350,690 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.