AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Up 1.4% – Should You Buy?

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shot up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $88.45 and last traded at $83.99. 11,940,004 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 14,868,371 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.87.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ASTS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. B. Riley Financial lowered their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research raised AST SpaceMobile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $43.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $63.77.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 1.4%

The stock has a market cap of $32.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -63.63 and a beta of 2.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $93.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 16.35 and a quick ratio of 16.27.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) 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 was up 2731.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at $422,180. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,488,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,292 shares in the last quarter. Vodafone Ventures Ltd bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at $397,413,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 44.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,661,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,569,000 after buying an additional 1,425,199 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,522,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,749,000 after buying an additional 402,505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,951,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,011,000 after acquiring an additional 350,690 shares in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is currently 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.