William Blair Initiates Coverage on AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS)

Key Points

• William Blair has initiated coverage on AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) with a "market perform" rating, contributing to the stock's mixed consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• The company reportedly had a disappointing quarterly earnings report, missing analysts' revenue expectations significantly and posting a negative EPS of ($0.41).
• Recent insider transactions include President Scott Wisniewski selling 50,000 shares, indicating a reduction in insider ownership as the company positions itself in the market.

Analysts at William Blair assumed coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS - Get Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a "market perform" rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on ASTS. Zacks Research raised AST SpaceMobile from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $45.40 to $42.90 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $38.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.41.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

NASDAQ ASTS traded up $2.09 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $47.07. 6,521,172 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,621,618. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.34. AST SpaceMobile has a 1 year low of $17.50 and a 1 year high of $60.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 8.23 and a quick ratio of 8.23. The company has a market cap of $16.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.90 and a beta of 2.33.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AST SpaceMobile news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 4,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.60, for a total value of $147,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 20,750 shares in the company, valued at $717,950. This trade represents a 17.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $12,789,107.28. This trade represents a 3.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 129,250 shares of company stock worth $4,671,650 over the last three months. Company insiders own 34.15% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth about $705,398,000. Alphabet Inc. purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth about $203,375,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile in the fourth quarter worth about $59,523,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,266,315 shares of the company's stock worth $28,796,000 after buying an additional 33,259 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 4.1% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 888,654 shares of the company's stock worth $20,208,000 after buying an additional 34,591 shares during the period. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.