AST SpaceMobile's (ASTS) Buy Rating Reiterated at UBS Group

Key Points

• UBS Group has increased its price target for AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) from $38.00 to $62.00, indicating a potential upside of 25.82% from the current stock price and maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Despite the optimistic outlook, shares of AST SpaceMobile experienced a 1.5% decline during trading, closing at $49.28.
• The company reported a disappointing quarterly earnings result with an EPS of ($0.41), falling short of the consensus estimate of ($0.19).

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by stock analysts at UBS Group in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $62.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $38.00. UBS Group's price target indicates a potential upside of 26.24% from the stock's previous close.

ASTS has been the topic of several other research reports. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank cut their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $45.40 to $42.90 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up previously from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Bank of America assumed coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.41.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

ASTS stock traded down $0.94 during trading on Thursday, hitting $49.11. The company had a trading volume of 3,860,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,993,973. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $47.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.05. The company has a current ratio of 8.23, a quick ratio of 10.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $15.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.95 and a beta of 2.33. AST SpaceMobile has a fifty-two week low of $17.50 and a fifty-two week high of $60.95.

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

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In other news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 3.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 4,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.60, for a total value of $147,050.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 20,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $717,950. The trade was a 17.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 184,250 shares of company stock worth $6,146,750 over the last 90 days. 34.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 61.9% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 77.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,350 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC grew its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 37.0% in the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 1,370 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.