AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Stock Price Up 3.5% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Shares rose 3.5% after Barclays raised its price target from $60 to $65 but kept an underweight rating; the stock traded as high as $98.35 and was near $94.85 mid-day.
• Sell‑side coverage is mixed with a consensus rating of Reduce and an average price target of $69.12 (2 Buys, 6 Holds, 3 Sells), indicating broader analyst skepticism despite the intraday rally.
• CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares at about $88.88, cutting their stake by ~89%, and the company reported a revenue beat ($54.31M vs. $39.53M) but an EPS miss (‑$0.26) along with very negative margins.

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) rose 3.5% during mid-day trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $65.00. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the stock. AST SpaceMobile traded as high as $98.35 and last traded at $94.8460. Approximately 11,744,973 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average daily volume of 14,629,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $91.61.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. B. Riley Financial lowered their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector underperform" rating and set a $45.60 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $69.12.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 4,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $422,180. This trade represents a 89.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 30.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ASTS. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter valued at $210,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 113,696 shares of the company's stock worth $8,258,000 after buying an additional 18,599 shares in the last quarter. Spear Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter worth about $6,313,000. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the fourth quarter worth about $327,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 128.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 16,939 shares of the company's stock worth $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 9,526 shares during the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -71.85 and a beta of 2.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 16.27 and a current ratio of 16.35.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $54.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $39.53 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 23.02% and a negative net margin of 482.16%.AST SpaceMobile's revenue for the quarter was up 2731.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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