AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) Receives Consensus Rating of "Reduce" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment is cautious: AST SpaceMobile has a consensus rating of "Reduce" from 11 analysts, with three sells, seven holds, and one buy. The average 1-year price target is about $81.33.
• Recent earnings missed expectations: The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.66 per share, wider than expected, and revenue of $14.74 million, well below estimates. Despite that miss, revenue jumped 1952.2% year over year.
• Insiders have been selling shares: Major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani and director Julio A. Torres both sold stock recently, and insiders sold a total of 3.14 million shares over the last 90 days. Insiders still hold about 20.89% of the company.

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Reduce" from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $81.3250.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ASTS shares. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. New Street Research set a $106.00 target price on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ ASTS opened at $92.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $89.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.16. The stock has a market cap of $35.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -51.72 and a beta of 2.70. AST SpaceMobile has a 52-week low of $32.25 and a 52-week 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.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. AST SpaceMobile's revenue was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile will post -1.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,690,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 29,330,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,681,362,770.10. The trade was a 5.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Julio A. Torres sold 15,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total transaction of $1,145,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 43,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,300,865.26. This represents a 25.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 3,140,000 shares of company stock valued at $279,903,150 over the last ninety days. 20.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Calton & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 0.8% in 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 grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Investmark Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,645 shares of the company's stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,283 shares of the company's stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 923 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 513 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company's stock.

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.

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