AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Down 11.6% After Insider Selling

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s stock price was down 11.6% during mid-day trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $67.53 and last traded at $67.81. Approximately 16,031,466 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 32% from the average daily volume of 12,110,173 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.70.

Specifically, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $773,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 382,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,572,882.50. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total value of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 211,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,743,685.25. This represents a 91.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. William Blair assumed coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. 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 lowered their target price for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.66.

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 firm has a market capitalization of $24.89 billion, a PE ratio of -54.69 and a beta of 2.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $71.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.98.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.27). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The company had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.10) EPS. AST SpaceMobile’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Group Inc. bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth $705,398,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 342.2% in the second quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 132,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,172,000 after buying an additional 102,217 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth about $14,750,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth about $21,754,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 77,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,606,000 after acquiring an additional 9,448 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.