AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $75.84, but opened at $79.66. AST SpaceMobile shares last traded at $81.6210, with a volume of 2,092,134 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ASTS shares. Scotiabank raised 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. Barclays lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group cut AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Zacks Research cut AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.56 billion, a PE ratio of -69.42 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 (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.10) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,572,882.50. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 2,140 shares of company stock valued at $137,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 13.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,919,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $977,668,000 after acquiring an additional 2,351,539 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 3rd quarter valued at $90,129,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,266,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,796,000 after buying an additional 33,259 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 37.8% during the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 843,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,411,000 after buying an additional 231,549 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 1,992.5% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 843,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,182,000 after acquiring an additional 803,240 shares during the last quarter. 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.