AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Up 5.8% – Time to Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares were up 5.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $74.36 and last traded at $73.90. Approximately 13,404,674 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 15,420,905 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.85.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ASTS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $117.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $43.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, New Street Research set a $115.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, April 20th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $82.51.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 16.35, a quick ratio of 16.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -53.70 and a beta of 2.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $86.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.49.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $54.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.53 million. The firm’s revenue was up 2731.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total value of $3,555,200.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $422,180. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,350,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total transaction of $116,397,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,980,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,412,448,964.10. The trade was a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,080,000 shares of company stock worth $274,452,000. 30.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASTS. Vodafone Ventures Ltd acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter valued at about $397,413,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter valued at about $198,270,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,351,539 shares in the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at about $90,129,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,661,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425,199 shares in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.