AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Up 3.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) were up 3.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on the stock from $80.00 to $90.00. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the stock. AST SpaceMobile traded as high as $75.08 and last traded at $74.31. Approximately 11,185,413 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 18,058,250 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.63.

ASTS has been the topic of several other reports. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $117.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Piper Sandler started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. New Street Research set a $106.00 target price on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.98.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total transaction of $3,854,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 34,750 shares in the company, valued at $3,348,857.50. This represents a 53.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.81, for a total value of $4,297,342.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 503,619 shares in the company, valued at $47,244,498.39. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 90,809 shares of company stock valued at $8,603,392 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting AST SpaceMobile

Here are the key news stories impacting AST SpaceMobile this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AST SpaceMobile said it is targeting approximately 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit by early 2027 and is moving toward beta service. SpaceX has launched six ASTS satellites this year, bringing the orbital fleet to 13 and supporting the company’s planned network expansion. ASTS Q2 Earnings Call Puts Beta Rollout and Government Growth in Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Management indicated that Vodafone and other mobile-network partners want direct-to-cell service rapidly, raising expectations for an imminent United Kingdom rollout and eventual commercial revenue. ASTS Stock Rises Overnight: AST SpaceMobile Clears the Runway for Imminent UK Direct-to-Cell Service
• Positive Sentiment: The company reaffirmed its 2026 revenue outlook of $150 million to $200 million. Its backlog is approximately $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion, while a reported $1 billion government J-LEO award and more than 60 mobile-network-operator partnerships strengthen the future revenue pipeline. AST SpaceMobile Stock Edges Higher Wednesday
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald maintained an overweight rating and raised its price target to $90, while Piper Sandler kept an overweight rating with a $98 target, providing supportive analyst sentiment. AST SpaceMobile Price Target Raised by Cantor Fitzgerald
• Neutral Sentiment: ASTS is being viewed as a high-risk, high-growth space investment: technical momentum and commercial-service optimism are offset by substantial execution risk and continuing cash needs.
• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter results missed expectations. Revenue was $31.5 million versus an estimated $34.5 million, while the adjusted loss was $0.77 per share versus a consensus loss near $0.32. The wider loss reflects heavy network-buildout costs and capital expenditures. AST SpaceMobile Second Quarter Earnings Fall Short of Estimates
• Negative Sentiment: The earnings miss was reportedly the company’s sixth consecutive shortfall, and AST SpaceMobile continues to generate significant losses while commercial service revenue has not yet begun. AST SpaceMobile Earnings Reminded Investors How Risky Space Can Be

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vodafone Ventures Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth approximately $397,413,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at $198,270,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,488,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,560,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,292 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 44.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,661,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425,199 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 8,016.7% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,269,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000,000 after buying an additional 1,253,967 shares in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $28.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.72 and a beta of 2.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 18.47 and a quick ratio of 18.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.47.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.77) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($0.45). The business had revenue of $31.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.53 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 536.66% and a negative return on equity of 23.32%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.41) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.