AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Down 5.5% – Time to Sell?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) fell 5.5% on Friday . The company traded as low as $57.55 and last traded at $58.05. 9,371,222 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 17,406,789 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $93.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Scotiabank raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.80 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. New Street Research set a $106.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, May 29th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.98.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 13.05, a quick ratio of 12.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $22.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.13 and a beta of 2.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $68.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.65.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.77) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($0.45). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 22.88% and a negative net margin of 536.66%.The company had revenue of $31.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.41) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total transaction of $3,854,800.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 34,750 shares in the company, valued at $3,348,857.50. The trade was a 53.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.81, for a total transaction of $4,297,342.29. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 503,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,244,498.39. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 8,016.7% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,269,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,967 shares in the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter worth $1,649,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth $996,000. Arrowpoint Investment Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter worth $2,290,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 259.5% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 23,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,942,000 after buying an additional 16,918 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.