AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Down 3% Following Insider Selling

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was down 3% during trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $40.00 and last traded at $40.64. Approximately 4,169,762 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 12,390,487 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.91.

Specifically, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.84, for a total value of $418,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 305,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,107.28. This represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASTS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a report on Monday, May 5th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Roth Capital began coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $47.90 to $45.40 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, B. Riley raised their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.73.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 3.3%

The company has a market cap of $12.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.16 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 5.80 and a current ratio of 5.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $26.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.20.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $0.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.85 million. Sell-side analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ASTS. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 61.9% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 5.9% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 10,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 72.4% during the first quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in AST SpaceMobile by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 106.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.