AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Up 3.5% After Analyst Upgrade

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)’s stock price rose 3.5% during mid-day trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $65.00. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the stock. AST SpaceMobile traded as high as $98.35 and last traded at $94.8460. Approximately 11,744,973 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average daily volume of 14,629,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $91.61.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on ASTS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, March 27th. B. Riley Financial decreased their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $43.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Scotiabank cut AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $69.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total transaction of $3,555,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $422,180. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 30.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 3.5%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $90.26 and a 200 day moving average of $81.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 16.35 and a quick ratio of 16.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -71.85 and a beta of 2.81.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.08). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 482.16% and a negative return on equity of 23.02%. The company had revenue of $54.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.53 million. AST SpaceMobile’s revenue was up 2731.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.