AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Down 14.7% on Analyst Downgrade

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) traded down 14.7% during mid-day trading on Friday after Scotiabank lowered their price target on the stock from $45.90 to $44.70. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. AST SpaceMobile traded as low as $21.51 and last traded at $22.87. 8,988,732 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 10,640,972 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.80.

ASTS has been the topic of several other reports. B. Riley boosted their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $26.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $22.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, President Scott Wisniewski sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.12, for a total value of $62,424.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 712,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,476,699.20. This trade represents a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.26, for a total transaction of $1,091,700.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 55,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,334,300. This trade represents a 45.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 127,700 shares of company stock valued at $3,220,524 over the last quarter. 41.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 209.9% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,450,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,606,000 after acquiring an additional 5,046,667 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 49.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,663,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,531 shares during the last quarter. Masters Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter worth about $2,900,000. Privium Fund Management B.V. acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 3rd quarter worth about $21,476,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,270,000. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 12.2 %

The firm has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.68 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 6.38 and a quick ratio of 6.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.67 and a 200-day moving average of $18.14.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $0.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.00 million. Research analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

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.