AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Trading Up 5.6% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shot up 5.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $29.61 and last traded at $29.20. 5,040,336 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 10,532,060 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.64.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ASTS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $22.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $28.00 to $45.90 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $26.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $13.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.80 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 6.38 and a quick ratio of 6.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $27.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.48.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $0.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.26, for a total value of $1,091,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 55,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,300. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.26, for a total value of $1,091,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 55,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,300. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Scott Wisniewski sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.12, for a total value of $62,424.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 712,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,476,699.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 127,700 shares of company stock worth $3,220,524 in the last quarter. 56.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 209.9% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,450,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,606,000 after purchasing an additional 5,046,667 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 49.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,663,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,325,000 after acquiring an additional 2,217,531 shares in the last quarter. Masters Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the first quarter worth $2,900,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the second quarter worth $9,270,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 56.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 472,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,489,000 after acquiring an additional 170,440 shares in the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.