Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of AST SpaceMobile Call Options (NASDAQ:ASTS)

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 145,186 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 67% compared to the average daily volume of 87,135 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 target price (up previously from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Roth Capital assumed coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $47.90 to $45.40 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.73.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $45.94 on Friday. AST SpaceMobile has a one year low of $9.32 and a one year high of $48.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 10.62 and a current ratio of 10.62. The stock has a market cap of $14.54 billion, a PE ratio of -23.09 and a beta of 2.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.76.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $0.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.85 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 7,033.22% and a negative return on equity of 23.56%. Equities research analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Scott Wisniewski sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.65, for a total value of $1,782,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 545,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,450,461.75. This represents a 8.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.84, for a total value of $418,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 305,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,107.28. The trade was a 3.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 184,250 shares of company stock valued at $6,146,750. 34.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 61.9% during the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 388.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Close Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 72.4% in the first quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

About AST SpaceMobile

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.