AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Down 4.5% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• AST SpaceMobile's stock price decreased by 4.5%, trading as low as $36.50 before recovering to $40.52, as approximately 11.4 million shares changed hands on Monday.
• Wall Street analysts show varying confidence, with UBS raising its price target to $62.00 while Zacks upgraded its rating from "strong sell" to "hold," creating an overall consensus rating of "hold" with a price target of $45.98.
• The company reported a loss of $0.41 per share in its latest earnings, missing analysts’ estimates, and reported revenue of just $1.16 million, significantly below expectations of $6.37 million.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report)'s stock price dropped 4.5% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $36.50 and last traded at $40.52. Approximately 11,381,213 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 2% from the average daily volume of 11,618,176 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ASTS. UBS Group raised their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $38.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. William Blair began coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Zacks Research upgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $45.98.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.43 and a beta of 2.43. The company has a quick ratio of 8.23, a current ratio of 8.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $49.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.66.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.22). AST SpaceMobile had a negative return on equity of 26.81% and a negative net margin of 7,213.90%.The business had revenue of $1.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 million. On average, analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.84, for a total transaction of $418,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 305,667 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,107.28. This trade represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 4,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.60, for a total transaction of $147,050.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 20,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $717,950. This represents a 17.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,615,050. 34.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Flagship Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 2.8% in the second quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,106 shares of the company's stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 0.5% during the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 56,619 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,646,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 25.2% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,826 shares of the company's stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC raised its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 37.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 1,370 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 2.4% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,641 shares of the company's stock worth $759,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company's stock.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

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.

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