AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Down 3% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Shares fell 3% to about $76 intraday on Friday with ~11.7M shares traded (24% below average), trading below the 50‑day ($87.84) and 200‑day ($83.69) moving averages and showing high volatility (beta 2.81).
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but cautious: MarketBeat's consensus is "Reduce" with a $82.51 target (2 Buys, 6 Holds, 3 Sells), while price targets range from Barclays' $65 (underweight) to Deutsche Bank's $117.
• Insiders sold heavily and fundamentals are mixed: major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1.35M shares for ~$116.4M (insiders sold 3.08M shares worth ~$274M in 90 days), and the company reported an EPS miss and deeply negative margins despite a 2,731% YoY revenue increase.

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) fell 3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $75.95 and last traded at $76.40. 11,745,208 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 24% from the average session volume of 15,492,315 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.75.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ASTS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research upgraded AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded AST SpaceMobile from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays increased their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $117.00 price objective on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $82.51.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 3.0%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.69. The company has a quick ratio of 16.27, a current ratio of 16.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $29.19 billion, a PE ratio of -57.88 and a beta of 2.81.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.08). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 482.16% and a negative return on equity of 23.02%. The firm had revenue of $54.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $39.53 million. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2731.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile news, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,350,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total transaction of $116,397,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,980,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,412,448,964.10. This trade represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total value of $3,555,200.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at $422,180. The trade was a 89.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 3,080,000 shares of company stock worth $274,452,000 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 30.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 48.0% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 532,960 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,158,000 after buying an additional 172,759 shares during the last quarter. Yarbrough Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 28.0% during the third quarter. Yarbrough Capital LLC now owns 99,372 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,877,000 after buying an additional 21,739 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter valued at about $1,882,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 28.5% during the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 27,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,350,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 28.0% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 31,580 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,550,000 after buying an additional 6,901 shares during 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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