AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Down 5% – Here’s What Happened

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was down 5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $55.73 and last traded at $56.20. 10,922,697 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 18,521,160 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.18.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ASTS. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.95.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 5.0%

The stock has a market cap of $21.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.57 and a beta of 2.69. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.81.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released 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). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. The company had revenue of $14.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.20) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile 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 transaction of $3,854,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 34,750 shares in the company, valued at $3,348,857.50. This represents a 53.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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, Director Julio A. Torres sold 15,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total value of $1,145,100.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 43,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,300,865.26. The trade was a 25.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 105,809 shares of company stock valued at $9,748,492 in the last 90 days. 20.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 8,016.7% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,269,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,967 shares in the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter worth $1,649,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 1,062.9% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 77,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,665,000 after purchasing an additional 71,287 shares in the last quarter. Arrowpoint Investment Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter worth $2,290,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 232,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,882,000 after purchasing an additional 48,318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

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.