AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Up 4.2% – What’s Next?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shot up 4.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $101.89 and last traded at $96.46. 11,330,964 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average session volume of 14,751,962 shares. The stock had previously closed at $92.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ASTS. Scotiabank downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, B. Riley Financial cut their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $63.77.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 4.2%

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.26. 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 $36.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -73.08 and a beta of 2.81.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total transaction of $3,555,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $422,180. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ASTS. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,000 after acquiring an additional 3,642 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,814,000 after acquiring an additional 3,515 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 467,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,634,000 after acquiring an additional 64,989 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 325,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,405,000 after acquiring an additional 49,811 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter worth approximately $168,000. Institutional investors 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.