Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of AST SpaceMobile Call Options (NASDAQ:ASTS)

Key Points

• Unusually heavy options activity hit AST SpaceMobile, with investors buying 201,427 call options on Friday — about 51% above the stock’s average call volume.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, including a major sale by CTO Huiwen Yao and a much larger sale by major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani; insiders sold 3.08 million shares worth $274.45 million over the last 90 days.
• The stock surged 14.8% to $75.05 on Friday amid heavy trading, while analysts remain mixed overall with a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $82.51.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 201,427 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 51% compared to the average volume of 133,293 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 40,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.88, for a total value of $3,555,200.00. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,690,000 shares of AST SpaceMobile stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.42, for a total transaction of $154,499,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 29,330,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,681,362,770.10. This trade represents a 5.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 3,080,000 shares of company stock worth $274,452,000 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 30.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ASTS. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 11.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,548 shares of the company's stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 3,642 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,764 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 3,515 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 467,626 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,634,000 after purchasing an additional 64,989 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 325,621 shares of the company's stock worth $7,405,000 after purchasing an additional 49,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter worth approximately $168,000. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASTS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. New Street Research set a $115.00 price target on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AST SpaceMobile from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Barclays upped their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $43.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $82.51.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 14.8%

Shares of AST SpaceMobile stock traded up $9.70 on Friday, hitting $75.05. 22,279,658 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,576,716. AST SpaceMobile has a 52-week low of $22.47 and a 52-week high of $129.89. The company has a quick ratio of 16.27, a current ratio of 16.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $28.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -56.86 and a beta of 2.60. The firm's 50-day moving average is $85.85 and its 200 day moving average is $82.88.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $54.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 2731.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current 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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