AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $104.00 and last traded at $102.8610, with a volume of 11533819 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.22.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASTS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Scotiabank downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Barclays cut AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, B. Riley cut AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 6.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $37.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -81.60 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a current ratio of 9.56, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.57 and its 200 day moving average is $61.75.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. AST SpaceMobile’s revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.10) EPS. Research analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,220. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $442,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,034,567.36. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 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 corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASTS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 13.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,919,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $977,668,000 after acquiring an additional 2,351,539 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter worth about $90,129,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,104,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,185,000 after purchasing an additional 168,832 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 843,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,411,000 after purchasing an additional 231,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 125.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 782,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,382,000 after purchasing an additional 434,615 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

About AST SpaceMobile

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.