Insider Buying: AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Director Purchases 625 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Director Keith Larson bought 625 shares on Dec. 24 at $80 each (total $50,000), raising his ownership 44.96% to 2,015 shares valued at $161,200.
• ASTS reported a quarterly loss of ($0.45) (missing the ($0.18) estimate) and revenue of $14.74M vs. $22.04M expected; the stock trades around $71.47 with a $26.23B market cap and an average analyst target of $45.66 amid mixed ratings.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) Director Keith Larson bought 625 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $80.00 per share, for a total transaction of $50,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,015 shares of the company's stock, valued at $161,200. This trade represents a 44.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of ASTS traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $71.47. 13,915,091 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,289,898. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.50 and a 52-week high of $102.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 9.48 and a current ratio of 9.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.12. The firm has a market cap of $26.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -57.64 and a beta of 2.76.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASTS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Scotiabank upgraded AST SpaceMobile from a "sector underperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.60 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Barclays cut AST SpaceMobile from an "overweight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.66.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 342.2% during the second quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 132,087 shares of the company's stock worth $6,172,000 after acquiring an additional 102,217 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter valued at $21,754,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 77,159 shares of the company's stock worth $3,606,000 after purchasing an additional 9,448 shares during the period. Sender Co & Partners Inc. grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 44.8% during the 1st quarter. Sender Co & Partners Inc. now owns 295,376 shares of the company's stock worth $6,717,000 after purchasing an additional 91,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 28,664 shares of the company's stock worth $1,339,000 after purchasing an additional 5,239 shares during the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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