AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.6571.

Several analysts have weighed in on ASTS shares. William Blair began coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 8th. Scotiabank upgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Zacks Research lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 11.6%

NASDAQ ASTS opened at $67.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -54.69 and a beta of 2.77. AST SpaceMobile has a one year low of $17.50 and a one year high of $102.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a current ratio of 9.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $70.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.30.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.10) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $560,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 387,485 shares in the company, valued at $21,699,160. This trade represents a 2.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,220. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,354,621 shares of company stock worth $164,348,075 in the last three months. 30.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 22.9% during the 3rd 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 period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 21.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 3.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.