Analysts Set AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) Target Price at $45.66

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $45.6571.

ASTS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays downgraded AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Scotiabank raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. UBS Group lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

AST SpaceMobile stock opened at $75.84 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $69.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.30. 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 company has a market cap of $27.83 billion, a PE ratio of -61.16 and a beta of 2.76. AST SpaceMobile has a twelve month low of $17.50 and a twelve month high of $102.79.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.10) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other AST SpaceMobile news, Director Keith R. Larson acquired 715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.02 per share, for a total transaction of $50,064.30. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 1,390 shares in the company, valued at $97,327.80. The trade was a 105.93% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders purchased 2,140 shares of company stock worth $137,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 82.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 8,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 4,069 shares during the period. Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 22.8% during the third quarter. Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. now owns 329,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,153,000 after acquiring an additional 61,111 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 138.0% during the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after acquiring an additional 19,065 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 34.5% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 46.4% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 4,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the period. 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.