AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Down 9.3% – Here’s What Happened

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s stock price fell 9.3% on Monday . The company traded as low as $72.59 and last traded at $73.19. Approximately 28,183,354 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 52% from the average session volume of 18,545,963 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.66.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ASTS. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. New Street Research set a $106.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, May 29th. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $106.00 in a report on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $81.33.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 9.3%

The company has a market cap of $28.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -41.12 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 18.47 and a quick ratio of 18.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.15.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.43). The company had revenue of $14.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. AST SpaceMobile’s revenue was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.20) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total transaction of $3,854,800.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 34,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,348,857.50. This trade represents a 53.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,690,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.42, for a total value of $154,499,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,330,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,681,362,770.10. This represents a 5.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 3,145,809 shares of company stock worth $280,645,292 over the last 90 days. 20.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 105.3% in the 1st quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $825,000 after buying an additional 5,108 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth about $621,000. Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth about $249,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 1.1% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 93,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,776,000 after acquiring an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter valued at about $445,000. 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.