AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $63.7667.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research raised AST SpaceMobile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Scotiabank lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $43.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASTS opened at $83.99 on Thursday. AST SpaceMobile has a twelve month low of $18.22 and a twelve month high of $129.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.55. The company has a market capitalization of $32.09 billion, a PE ratio of -63.63 and a beta of 2.80. The company has a quick ratio of 16.27, a current ratio of 16.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.08). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 482.16% and a negative return on equity of 23.02%. The firm had revenue of $54.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.53 million. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2731.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total transaction of $3,555,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at $422,180. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 30.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 48.0% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 532,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,158,000 after buying an additional 172,759 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 342.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 132,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,172,000 after buying an additional 102,217 shares during the period. Yarbrough Capital LLC boosted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 28.0% in the third quarter. Yarbrough Capital LLC now owns 99,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,877,000 after acquiring an additional 21,739 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the third quarter worth approximately $1,882,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 28.5% in the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 27,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after acquiring an additional 6,100 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.