AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Up 1.3% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shot up 1.3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $53.71 and last traded at $51.37. 13,342,487 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 10% from the average session volume of 12,098,463 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.70.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASTS has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $45.27.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 9.56 and a quick ratio of 9.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $66.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.20. The company has a market cap of $18.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -41.43 and a beta of 2.46.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.AST SpaceMobile’s revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.10) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.48, for a total value of $1,049,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 397,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,860,012.80. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total value of $1,623,200.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at $192,755. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rakuten Group Inc. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter valued at about $705,398,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 buying an additional 2,351,539 shares during the period. Clear Street Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $90,129,000. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 1,992.5% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 843,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,182,000 after acquiring an additional 803,240 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter worth approximately $14,750,000. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

AST SpaceMobile, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops and provides access to a space-based cellular broadband network for smartphones in the United States. Its SpaceMobile service provides cellular broadband services to end-users who are out of terrestrial cellular coverage. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.