AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading 1.7% Higher – Should You Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s share price rose 1.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $75.14 and last traded at $73.92. Approximately 13,378,973 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 11% from the average daily volume of 12,044,881 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ASTS. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Barclays downgraded AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $27.13 billion, a PE ratio of -59.61 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $68.56 and a 200 day moving average of $52.38.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 firm posted ($1.10) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total transaction of $1,623,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,755. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $560,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 387,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,699,160. The trade was a 2.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 30.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 225.0% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Binnacle Investments Inc purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter worth about $33,000. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About AST SpaceMobile

AST SpaceMobile, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops and provides access to a space-based cellular broadband network for smartphones in the United States. Its SpaceMobile service provides cellular broadband services to end-users who are out of terrestrial cellular coverage. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.