Stock Traders Buy High Volume of AST SpaceMobile Call Options (NASDAQ:ASTS)

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTSGet Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors bought 235,216 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 44% compared to the average volume of 163,466 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.25, for a total value of $451,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 565,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,063,901.25. This represents a 0.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,690,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.42, for a total value of $154,499,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,330,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,681,362,770.10. This trade represents a 5.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,100,000 shares of company stock worth $276,048,350. Company insiders own 20.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Calton & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 13,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $986,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 923 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 513 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on ASTS shares. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, May 29th. New Street Research set a $106.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upped their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $81.33.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on ASTS

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 12.8%

Shares of ASTS opened at $93.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.33 billion, a PE ratio of -52.58 and a beta of 2.70. AST SpaceMobile has a 1 year low of $29.78 and a 1 year high of $133.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 18.37 and a current ratio of 18.47. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.71.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTSGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.43). The business had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 573.67%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.20) EPS. Analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

More AST SpaceMobile News

Here are the key news stories impacting AST SpaceMobile this week:

About AST SpaceMobile

(Get Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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