AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Down 3.1% - Time to Sell?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) shares dropped 3.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $50.32 and last traded at $51.59. Approximately 9,430,556 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average daily volume of 12,547,117 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.22.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on ASTS. UBS Group increased their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Roth Capital started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $42.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer started coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Bank of America began coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.40 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AST SpaceMobile presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $45.34.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 10.62, a quick ratio of 10.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.50 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.15.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.03). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 23.56% and a negative net margin of 7,033.22%. The business had revenue of $0.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.85 million. Sell-side analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal 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 that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.84, for a total value of $418,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 305,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,789,107.28. The trade was a 3.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.82, for a total transaction of $1,475,100.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 184,250 shares of company stock worth $6,146,750. Insiders own 41.80% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASTS. Rakuten Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter valued at about $705,398,000. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $203,375,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,987,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $316,233,000 after acquiring an additional 4,955,941 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,523,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 1,992.5% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 843,554 shares of the company's stock worth $19,182,000 after acquiring an additional 803,240 shares in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.