AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $24.26, but opened at $26.00. AST SpaceMobile shares last traded at $26.44, with a volume of 2,730,112 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

AST SpaceMobile Stock Down 3.9 %

The company has a quick ratio of 6.38, a current ratio of 6.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.14. The company has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.44 and a beta of 1.64.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $0.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.00 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -0.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, Director Adriana Cisneros purchased 4,934 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.32 per share, with a total value of $129,862.88. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 774,772 shares in the company, valued at $20,391,999.04. The trade was a 0.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.83, for a total transaction of $2,066,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 393,232 shares in the company, valued at $10,157,182.56. This represents a 16.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 127,700 shares of company stock worth $3,220,524. Insiders own 41.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter worth about $68,000. Black Maple Capital Management LP purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter worth about $87,000. Finally, KBC Group NV purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the third quarter worth about $104,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

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.