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

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

Specifically, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 122,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,034,567.36. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.52, for a total value of $2,940,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,220. This represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on ASTS shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday. Barclays cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Zacks Research cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.60 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, November 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AST SpaceMobile presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $29.01 billion, a PE ratio of -63.75 and a beta of 2.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 9.56 and a quick ratio of 9.48. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.48 and a 200 day moving average of $53.99.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. The firm had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.10) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ASTS. Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter valued at $705,398,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,919,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,668,000 after buying an additional 2,351,539 shares in the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 3rd quarter valued at about $90,129,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,266,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,796,000 after acquiring an additional 33,259 shares during the period. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 843,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,411,000 after acquiring an additional 231,549 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

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.