AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Down 1.6% After Insider Selling

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s share price traded down 1.6% on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $69.82 and last traded at $72.84. Approximately 10,968,689 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 12,038,800 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.00.

Specifically, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 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. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ASTS. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank upgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 24th. UBS Group cut AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $70.04 and a 200 day moving average of $53.81. The company has a market capitalization of $26.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -58.74 and a beta of 2.76. The company has a quick ratio of 9.48, a current ratio of 9.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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 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%.The business’s revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.10) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 225.0% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Binnacle Investments Inc purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

About AST SpaceMobile

AST SpaceMobile, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops and provides access to a space-based cellular broadband network for smartphones in the United States. Its SpaceMobile service provides cellular broadband services to end-users who are out of terrestrial cellular coverage. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.