AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading 1.8% Higher – Time to Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares rose 1.8% on Monday . The company traded as high as $59.40 and last traded at $59.10. 8,262,428 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 17,352,119 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $93.00 target price on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Scotiabank raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.80 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.98.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $23.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.62 and a beta of 2.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 13.05 and a quick ratio of 12.90.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.77) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($0.45). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 22.88% and a negative net margin of 536.66%.The business had revenue of $31.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.41) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total value of $3,854,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 34,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,348,857.50. The trade was a 53.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.81, for a total transaction of $4,297,342.29. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 503,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,244,498.39. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 20.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 8,016.7% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,269,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,967 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter valued at $1,649,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter valued at $996,000. Arrowpoint Investment Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at $2,290,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 259.5% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 23,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,942,000 after purchasing an additional 16,918 shares during the last quarter. 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.