Brokerages Set AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) Target Price at $85.98

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $85.9778.

ASTS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $93.00 price target on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.80 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. New Street Research set a $106.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total value of $3,854,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 34,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,348,857.50. This represents a 53.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 20.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASTS. Compass Financial Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Continuum Advisory LLC bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 16,350.0% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:ASTS opened at $62.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.98 and a beta of 2.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 12.90 and a current ratio of 13.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $69.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.34. AST SpaceMobile has a 52-week low of $36.08 and a 52-week high of $133.86.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.77) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($0.45). The firm 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 22.88%. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.41) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile will post -1.95 EPS for the current 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.