AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Down 5.5% – Here’s Why

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s share price dropped 5.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock 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 daily volume of 17,406,789 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.44.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ASTS. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. New Street Research set a $106.00 price target on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $93.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.98.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 5.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $22.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.13 and a beta of 2.75. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.82. The company has a current ratio of 13.05, a quick ratio of 12.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.77) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $31.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.41) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.95 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 11,947.9% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 31,526,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,801,449,000 after acquiring an additional 31,264,875 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,488,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,560,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,292 shares during the last quarter. Vodafone Ventures Ltd bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth about $397,413,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 44.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,661,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,569,000 after buying an additional 1,425,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,522,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,749,000 after buying an additional 402,505 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

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.