AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $75.84, but opened at $79.66. AST SpaceMobile shares last traded at $81.6210, with a volume of 2,092,134 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays cut AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Zacks Research lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.27. The firm has a market cap of $28.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -62.26 and a beta of 2.76. The company has a current ratio of 9.56, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released 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). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. The business had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.10) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Keith R. Larson bought 715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $70.02 per share, for a total transaction of $50,064.30. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 1,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,327.80. The trade was a 105.93% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total value of $773,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 382,375 shares in the company, valued at $29,572,882.50. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 2,140 shares of company stock worth $137,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. Insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 342.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 132,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,172,000 after buying an additional 102,217 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter worth approximately $21,754,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 14.0% during the second quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 77,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,606,000 after purchasing an additional 9,448 shares during the period. Sender Co & Partners Inc. raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 44.8% during the first quarter. Sender Co & Partners Inc. now owns 295,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,717,000 after purchasing an additional 91,352 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 28,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,339,000 after purchasing an additional 5,239 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

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.