AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Down 12.1% – Here’s What Happened

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s stock price fell 12.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $83.91 and last traded at $85.73. 24,249,855 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 18% from the average session volume of 20,540,459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $97.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ASTS. 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. Zacks Research downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group cut 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 research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 9.56 and a quick ratio of 9.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.03. The company has a market cap of $31.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.14 and a beta of 2.70.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.10) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $442,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,034,567.36. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,765 shares of company stock worth $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. Company insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

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 business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,000 after purchasing an additional 3,642 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,000 after buying an additional 3,515 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 467,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,634,000 after buying an additional 64,989 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 133.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 79,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,815,000 after buying an additional 45,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth about $413,000. Hedge funds and other 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.