AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Up 5.6% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) were up 5.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $93.99 and last traded at $90.56. Approximately 14,711,455 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 24% from the average daily volume of 19,413,887 shares. The stock had previously closed at $85.73.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASTS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Scotiabank downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lowered 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, four have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 7.9%

The company’s 50-day moving average is $70.07 and its 200 day moving average is $60.75. The company has a current ratio of 9.56, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $35.85 billion, a PE ratio of -78.77 and a beta of 2.70.

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

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 211,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,743,685.25. This represents a 91.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 2,765 shares of company stock worth $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. Insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,919,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,668,000 after purchasing an additional 2,351,539 shares in the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the third quarter worth $90,129,000. 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 worth $19,182,000 after buying an additional 803,240 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter worth $21,754,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 125.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 782,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,382,000 after buying an additional 434,615 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

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.