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

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $86.48, but opened at $82.23. AST SpaceMobile shares last traded at $85.7810, with a volume of 1,479,191 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ASTS. Scotiabank raised AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Zacks Research downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, October 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $31.12 billion, a PE ratio of -68.10 and a beta of 2.76. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.89.

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 net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. The firm had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.10) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 122,486 shares in the company, valued at $9,034,567.36. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 2,140 shares of company stock valued at $137,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASTS. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,266,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,796,000 after acquiring an additional 33,259 shares in the last quarter. EVR Research LP purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter worth approximately $6,595,000. Magnetar Financial LLC grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 73.8% during the 1st quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 150,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,412,000 after purchasing an additional 63,689 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 246.5% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 102,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,332,000 after purchasing an additional 72,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth $137,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.