AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Down 1.6% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• AST SpaceMobile shares fell 1.6% on Monday, trading as low as $90.81 and closing at $92.06 on lighter-than-average volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with the stock carrying an average “Reduce” rating and a consensus price target of $81.33, despite a few firms still assigning higher targets.
• Recent fundamentals and insider activity were mixed to weak: the company missed quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, while insiders have sold 3.1 million shares over the last three months.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 1.6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $90.81 and last traded at $92.06. 13,589,596 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 23% from the average session volume of 17,706,592 shares. The stock had previously closed at $93.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. New Street Research set a $106.00 price target on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays raised their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered AST SpaceMobile from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $81.33.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 1.6%

The stock has a market cap of $35.73 billion, a PE ratio of -51.72 and a beta of 2.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $89.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 18.47 and a quick ratio of 18.37.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.43). The company had revenue of $14.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 24.87% and a negative net margin of 573.67%.The company's revenue was up 1952.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andrew Martin Johnson sold 5,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.25, for a total value of $451,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 565,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,063,901.25. This trade represents a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,690,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.42, for a total value of $154,499,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 29,330,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,681,362,770.10. This represents a 5.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,100,000 shares of company stock worth $276,048,350. Insiders own 20.89% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 1.1% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 93,836 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,776,000 after buying an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter valued at approximately $445,000. Foguth Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 23.5% during the first quarter. Foguth Wealth Management LLC. now owns 10,099 shares of the company's stock valued at $837,000 after buying an additional 1,923 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 105.3% during the first quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,961 shares of the company's stock valued at $825,000 after buying an additional 5,108 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 140.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,644,246 shares of the company's stock valued at $136,259,000 after buying an additional 960,045 shares during the period. 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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