AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Piper Sandler

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Piper Sandler to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a 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 target for the stock from $117.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group cut their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $86.95.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 17.0%

Shares of ASTS opened at $55.01 on Wednesday. AST SpaceMobile has a twelve month low of $36.08 and a twelve month high of $133.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.90 and a beta of 2.69. The company has a current ratio of 18.47, a quick ratio of 18.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $87.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.34.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.43). The firm had revenue of $14.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 last year, the firm posted ($0.20) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile will post -1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total value of $3,854,800.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 34,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,348,857.50. This represents a 53.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 45,809 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.81, for a total transaction of $4,297,342.29. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 503,619 shares in the company, valued at $47,244,498.39. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 105,809 shares of company stock valued at $9,748,492. 20.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 8,016.7% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,269,609 shares of the company's stock valued at $92,000,000 after buying an additional 1,253,967 shares during the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,649,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 1,062.9% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 77,994 shares of the company's stock worth $5,665,000 after acquiring an additional 71,287 shares in the last quarter. Arrowpoint Investment Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,290,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 232,436 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,882,000 after acquiring an additional 48,318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company's stock.

Key AST SpaceMobile News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler initiated coverage on AST SpaceMobile with an Overweight rating, signaling continued analyst confidence in the long-term opportunity. SpaceX, RocketLab rated Neutral, ASTS rated Overweight at Piper Sandler
• Positive Sentiment: The company also reported progress on its satellite network, including regulatory approval in New Zealand, Bell Canada’s completed ground station in Québec, and the arrival of BlueBird 11 ahead of upcoming launches. AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) Secures Global Approvals As Texas Expansion And Launches Near
• Positive Sentiment: Shares may also be getting some short-term technical support as the recent decline has pushed the stock closer to oversold territory, which can sometimes trigger a bounce. AST SpaceMobile stock sinks on double dose of bad news

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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