AST SpaceMobile Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:ASTS)

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders bought 140,181 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 19% compared to the average daily volume of 117,637 call options.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

NASDAQ ASTS traded down $9.00 on Friday, hitting $113.10. 15,058,693 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,657,918. AST SpaceMobile has a 12 month low of $18.22 and a 12 month high of $129.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $82.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -91.06 and a beta of 2.70. 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 quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 27.76% and a negative net margin of 1,639.59%.AST SpaceMobile’s revenue was up 1236.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.10) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ASTS. Scotiabank downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $45.66.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AST SpaceMobile news, Director Keith R. Larson purchased 625 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $80.00 per share, with a total value of $50,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 2,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $161,200. The trade was a 44.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total value of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 211,379 shares in the company, valued at $14,743,685.25. This trade represents a 91.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 11.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 3,642 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,814,000 after acquiring an additional 3,515 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 467,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,634,000 after buying an additional 64,989 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 325,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,405,000 after acquiring an additional 49,811 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter worth $168,000. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.