AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Down 9.9% – Here’s What Happened

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) fell 9.9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $92.20 and last traded at $93.27. 15,881,147 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 10% from the average session volume of 17,631,469 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ASTS. Zacks Research cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. B. Riley lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Barclays downgraded AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 9.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $34.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -75.22 and a beta of 2.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.42. 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 announced 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). The firm had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.10) EPS. Research analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 10,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction 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 approximately $21,699,160. This trade represents a 2.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 122,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 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

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Investmark Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 923 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 22.9% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.