AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Up 2.7% – Should You Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares traded up 2.7% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $95.45 and last traded at $95.22. 11,625,351 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 17,442,008 shares. The stock had previously closed at $92.72.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 2.7%

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 stock has a market cap of $34.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -76.79 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.52.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The firm had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.10) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,034,567.36. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider owned 211,379 shares in the company, valued at $14,743,685.25. This represents a 91.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 2,765 shares of company stock worth $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 225.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 650 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is 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.