AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Up 18.2% – Still a Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s stock price traded up 18.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $73.85 and last traded at $72.65. 24,455,223 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 103% from the average session volume of 12,037,980 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.44.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ASTS. Scotiabank upgraded 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. Zacks Research cut AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Barclays downgraded 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $26.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -58.59 and a beta of 2.76. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.23. The company has a current ratio of 9.56, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted 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). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The company had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.10) earnings per share. AST SpaceMobile’s revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 225.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 650 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Binnacle Investments Inc bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

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.