AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Down 8% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• AST SpaceMobile shares dropped about 8% to $103.50 on heavy trading (25.6M shares, +31% vs. average); despite a market cap near $38B the Street's consensus is Reduce with a consensus target of $45.66.
• The company reported a Q EPS miss (($0.45) vs. ($0.18) expected) and revenue $14.7M vs. $22.0M consensus, with very negative margins and return on equity, highlighting ongoing operating losses.
• Insiders have executed large sales recently (Tower Corp sold ~2.29M shares; the COO sold 10k), while institutions like Vanguard significantly increased positions (Vanguard ~19.9M shares), presenting mixed ownership signals.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) traded down 8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $96.93 and last traded at $103.50. 25,629,567 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 31% from the average session volume of 19,493,396 shares. The stock had previously closed at $112.44.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ASTS shares. B. Riley downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank lowered AST SpaceMobile from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector underperform" rating and set a $45.60 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $45.66.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $37.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -83.47 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a current ratio of 9.56, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company's fifty day moving average is $75.05 and its 200 day moving average is $63.71.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.27). AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 1,639.59% and a negative return on equity of 27.76%. The business had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.10) EPS. The company's revenue was up 1236.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AST SpaceMobile news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.34, for a total transaction of $773,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 382,375 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,572,882.50. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total transaction of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 211,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,743,685.25. The trade was a 91.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 2,765 shares of company stock worth $187,236 and have sold 2,354,621 shares worth $164,348,075. 30.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ASTS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 13.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,919,888 shares of the company's stock worth $977,668,000 after buying an additional 2,351,539 shares in the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 3rd quarter valued at about $90,129,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,104,013 shares of the company's stock worth $54,185,000 after purchasing an additional 168,832 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 37.8% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 843,738 shares of the company's stock worth $41,411,000 after purchasing an additional 231,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 125.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 782,041 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,382,000 after purchasing an additional 434,615 shares in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

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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