Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS)

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 140,181 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 19% compared to the typical volume of 117,637 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. 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 report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, December 29th. B. Riley lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $45.60 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 8.9%

Shares of AST SpaceMobile stock opened at $111.21 on Friday. 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 has a 52-week low of $18.22 and a 52-week high of $129.89. The company has a market capitalization of $40.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -89.68 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.89 and a 200 day moving average of $67.33.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $22.04 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. AST SpaceMobile’s revenue for the quarter was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.10) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were 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 owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,220. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Maya Bernal sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $442,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 122,486 shares in the company, valued at $9,034,567.36. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have bought 2,765 shares of company stock worth $187,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. Company insiders own 30.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AST SpaceMobile

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.