AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Sets New 52-Week High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• AST SpaceMobile's stock reached a new 52-week high of $92.07 during trading, closing at $90.50, marking significant market interest with a trading volume of over 13 million shares.
• Analyst ratings for AST SpaceMobile vary widely, with four buy ratings, five holds, and two sells, reflecting mixed investor sentiment despite an average price target of $45.27.
• The company reported disappointing earnings, missing consensus estimates with an EPS of ($0.41) and revenue of $1.16 million, leading to a negative net margin of 7,213.90%.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $92.07 and last traded at $90.50, with a volume of 13138890 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $82.03.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Scotiabank lowered AST SpaceMobile from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector underperform" rating and set a $42.90 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.27.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $32.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.88 and a beta of 2.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.60 and a 200 day moving average of $40.65. The company has a current ratio of 8.23, a quick ratio of 8.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.19) by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $1.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.37 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 7,213.90% and a negative return on equity of 26.81%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.58, for a total transaction of $1,623,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $192,755. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.48, for a total value of $1,049,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 397,485 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,860,012.80. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 41.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Binnacle Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Chapman Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.