AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Down 7.4% – Here’s Why

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s stock price traded down 7.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $64.91 and last traded at $65.4250. 18,492,181 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 19% from the average session volume of 15,488,563 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on ASTS shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. New Street Research set a $115.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Scotiabank lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lowered their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $82.51.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 16.27 and a current ratio of 16.35. The stock has a market cap of $24.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -49.56 and a beta of 2.60.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.08). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 23.02% and a negative net margin of 482.16%.The company had revenue of $54.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.53 million. AST SpaceMobile’s quarterly revenue was up 2731.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total value of $3,555,200.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $422,180. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,350,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total transaction of $116,397,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,980,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,412,448,964.10. This represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 3,080,000 shares of company stock worth $274,452,000 over the last ninety days. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 3,642 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 4.6% during 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 holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% during the 1st 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 period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 325,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,405,000 after purchasing an additional 49,811 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter worth $168,000. 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.