Traders Purchase Large Volume of AST SpaceMobile Call Options (NASDAQ:ASTS)

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 94,695 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 28% compared to the average daily volume of 73,824 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $47.90 to $45.40 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Roth Capital assumed coverage on AST SpaceMobile in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on AST SpaceMobile from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.40.

AST SpaceMobile Price Performance

Shares of ASTS opened at $26.25 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $24.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.51. The company has a quick ratio of 5.80, a current ratio of 5.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. AST SpaceMobile has a twelve month low of $2.29 and a twelve month high of $39.08. The company has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.38 and a beta of 2.05.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Julio A. Torres sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.73, for a total value of $614,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 52,628 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,617,258.44. The trade was a 27.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 34.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 1st quarter worth approximately $14,750,000. Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter valued at $705,398,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 2.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,266,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,796,000 after buying an additional 33,259 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 111.1% in the 1st quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 55,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,272,000 after acquiring an additional 29,450 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 1st quarter worth $286,000. Hedge funds and other 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.