AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Up 14.9% – Time to Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) rose 14.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $83.76 and last traded at $83.47. Approximately 18,739,353 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 22% from the average daily volume of 15,390,067 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASTS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. 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 research note on Friday, October 17th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $30.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -67.31 and a beta of 2.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $68.52 and its 200 day moving average is $58.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a current ratio of 9.56.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.10) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 122,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was 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 directly owned 211,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,743,685.25. The trade was a 91.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 246.5% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 102,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,332,000 after buying an additional 72,954 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,000 after buying an additional 3,642 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 607,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,824,000 after purchasing an additional 93,039 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,814,000 after buying an additional 3,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 467,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,634,000 after acquiring an additional 64,989 shares during the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

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.