AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Up 2.9% – Time to Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) traded up 2.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $74.89 and last traded at $74.0480. 5,115,719 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 12,251,875 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ASTS. Zacks Research lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Scotiabank upgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. UBS Group lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 1.3%

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.75 billion, a PE ratio of -58.65 and a beta of 2.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 9.56 and a quick ratio of 9.48.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $22.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.10) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $773,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 382,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,572,882.50. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total transaction of $2,940,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,220. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 2,140 shares of company stock valued at $137,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. Insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,069 shares during the period. Greenhaven Road Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 22.8% during the 3rd 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. grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 138.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after purchasing an additional 19,065 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased 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. raised its stake 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 worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.