AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading 7.2% Higher – Still a Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s share price traded up 7.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $97.94 and last traded at $97.49. 17,662,038 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 8% from the average session volume of 19,117,986 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASTS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. 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 reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.67. The stock has a market cap of $35.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.62 and a beta of 2.70. 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 released its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business’s revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.10) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total value of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 211,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,743,685.25. The trade was a 91.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 directly owned 387,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,699,160. This represents a 2.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,919,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,668,000 after buying an additional 2,351,539 shares during the period. Clear Street Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter valued at approximately $90,129,000. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 1,992.5% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 843,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,182,000 after purchasing an additional 803,240 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter worth about $21,754,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 125.1% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 782,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,382,000 after purchasing an additional 434,615 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.