AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Up 14.9% – Should You Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s stock price traded up 14.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $83.76 and last traded at $83.47. 18,739,353 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 22% from the average session volume of 15,390,067 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ASTS. Zacks Research downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Barclays cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 14.9%

The firm has a market cap of $30.64 billion, a PE ratio of -67.31 and a beta of 2.70. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $68.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.23.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. AST SpaceMobile’s revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.10) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total transaction of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 211,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,743,685.25. This trade represents a 91.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company’s 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 directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,220. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. Company insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ASTS. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $32,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Binnacle Investments Inc acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 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.