AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Raised to Strong-Buy at Piper Sandler

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) was upgraded by stock analysts at Piper Sandler to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

ASTS has been the topic of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $106.00 in a report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen cut AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.95.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASTS opened at $55.01 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.34. 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 company has a market cap of $21.35 billion, a PE ratio of -30.90 and a beta of 2.69. AST SpaceMobile has a 12 month low of $36.08 and a 12 month high of $133.86.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.43). The business had revenue of $14.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 573.67%.AST SpaceMobile’s revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.20) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile will post -1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 transaction of $1,145,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,300,865.26. The trade was a 25.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.81, for a total value of $4,297,342.29. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 503,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,244,498.39. This represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 105,809 shares of company stock valued at $9,748,492. Company insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 16,350.0% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Portus Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Key AST SpaceMobile News

Here are the key news stories impacting AST SpaceMobile this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler initiated coverage on AST SpaceMobile with an Overweight rating, signaling continued analyst confidence in the long-term opportunity. SpaceX, RocketLab rated Neutral, ASTS rated Overweight at Piper Sandler
• Positive Sentiment: The company also reported progress on its satellite network, including regulatory approval in New Zealand, Bell Canada’s completed ground station in Québec, and the arrival of BlueBird 11 ahead of upcoming launches. AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) Secures Global Approvals As Texas Expansion And Launches Near
• Positive Sentiment: Shares may also be getting some short-term technical support as the recent decline has pushed the stock closer to oversold territory, which can sometimes trigger a bounce. AST SpaceMobile stock sinks on double dose of bad news

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.