AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Down 9.9% – Here’s What Happened

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s stock price traded down 9.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $92.20 and last traded at $93.27. 15,881,147 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average session volume of 17,631,469 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ASTS. B. Riley lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays lowered 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. Zacks Research downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 9.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a current ratio of 9.56. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $87.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -75.22 and a beta of 2.70.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.10) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total transaction of $2,940,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,220. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $773,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 382,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,572,882.50. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, 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. Insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

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. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.