AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Up 10.7% – Time to Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was up 10.7% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $71.49 and last traded at $70.68. Approximately 17,946,783 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 16% from the average daily volume of 15,445,703 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ASTS shares. Barclays increased their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Scotiabank cut AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. B. Riley Financial cut their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $117.00 target price on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, New Street Research set a $115.00 target price on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $82.51.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 16.35 and a quick ratio of 16.27. The company has a market capitalization of $27.00 billion, a PE ratio of -53.55 and a beta of 2.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $86.52 and a 200 day moving average of $83.14.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $54.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.53 million. The firm’s revenue was up 2731.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,350,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total transaction of $116,397,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,980,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,412,448,964.10. This trade represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $422,180. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 3,080,000 shares of company stock worth $274,452,000 over the last ninety days. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

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