AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $104.00 and last traded at $102.8610, with a volume of 11533819 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.22.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ASTS shares. B. Riley downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays cut AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Zacks Research cut AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

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 company has a market cap of $37.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -81.60 and a beta of 2.70. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.75.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. The firm had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.10) earnings per share. AST SpaceMobile’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $773,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 382,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,572,882.50. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $349,220. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ASTS. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 342.2% during the second quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 132,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,172,000 after purchasing an additional 102,217 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,754,000. Yarbrough Capital LLC lifted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 28.0% during the third quarter. Yarbrough Capital LLC now owns 99,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,877,000 after purchasing an additional 21,739 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 14.0% during the second quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 77,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,606,000 after purchasing an additional 9,448 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 22.4% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 28,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,339,000 after purchasing an additional 5,239 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.