AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Down 12.1% – Time to Sell?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was down 12.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $83.91 and last traded at $85.73. Approximately 24,249,855 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 18% from the average daily volume of 20,540,459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $97.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 9.48, a current ratio of 9.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $35.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -78.77 and a beta of 2.70. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.75.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released 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 net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. The company had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.10) earnings per share. AST SpaceMobile’s revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $349,220. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $560,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 387,485 shares in the company, valued at $21,699,160. This represents a 2.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,765 shares of company stock valued at $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares valued at $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ASTS. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in 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 valued at $6,172,000 after acquiring an additional 102,217 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,754,000. Yarbrough Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Yarbrough Capital LLC now owns 99,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,877,000 after purchasing an additional 21,739 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 14.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 9,448 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 28,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,339,000 after buying an additional 5,239 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

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.