AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading 10.7% Higher – Still a Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s share price traded up 10.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $116.68 and last traded at $115.76. 15,447,486 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average session volume of 17,596,598 shares. The stock had previously closed at $104.55.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. B. Riley lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 29th. 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. Finally, 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $42.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -93.35 and a beta of 2.70. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.77. 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 posted its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) 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 firm had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.10) earnings per share. AST SpaceMobile’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 122,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at $349,220. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 2,765 shares of company stock worth $187,236 and sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Investmark Advisory Group LLC raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in AST SpaceMobile by 22.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 21.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. 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.