Insider Selling: AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) CTO Sells $2,940,800.00 in Stock

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total value of $2,940,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $349,220. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Huiwen Yao also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 16th, Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total transaction of $1,623,200.00.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

AST SpaceMobile stock opened at $79.05 on Thursday. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.50 and a 52-week high of $102.79. The company has a quick ratio of 9.48, a current ratio of 9.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $70.48 and its 200 day moving average is $53.99. The company has a market cap of $29.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -63.75 and a beta of 2.76.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.27). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The business had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.10) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ASTS shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday. William Blair assumed coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. 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 report on Monday, November 24th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.66.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 225.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 650 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Binnacle Investments Inc purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

AST SpaceMobile, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops and provides access to a space-based cellular broadband network for smartphones in the United States. Its SpaceMobile service provides cellular broadband services to end-users who are out of terrestrial cellular coverage. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.