AST SpaceMobile Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:ASTS)

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 201,427 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 51% compared to the average volume of 133,293 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASTS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. B. Riley Financial decreased their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $43.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $117.00 target price on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $82.51.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,690,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.42, for a total value of $154,499,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 29,330,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,681,362,770.10. The trade was a 5.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was 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 approximately $422,180. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 3,080,000 shares of company stock worth $274,452,000 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ASTS. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,000 after acquiring an additional 3,642 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 3,515 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 467,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,634,000 after purchasing an additional 64,989 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 325,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,405,000 after purchasing an additional 49,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth $168,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

AST SpaceMobile stock traded up $9.70 on Friday, reaching $75.05. 22,279,658 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,576,716. The company has a current ratio of 16.35, a quick ratio of 16.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. AST SpaceMobile has a twelve month low of $22.47 and a twelve month high of $129.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $85.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.88. The stock has a market cap of $28.67 billion, a PE ratio of -56.86 and a beta of 2.60.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.08). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 23.02% and a negative net margin of 482.16%.The business had revenue of $54.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.53 million. The company’s revenue was up 2731.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

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.