Short Interest in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) Increases By 7.5%

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 41,560,000 shares, a growth of 7.5% from the September 15th total of 38,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 16,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days. Approximately 29.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of ASTS opened at $28.49 on Friday. AST SpaceMobile has a 1 year low of $1.97 and a 1 year high of $39.08. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.94. 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 market cap of $7.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.07 and a beta of 1.62.

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

Insider Transactions at AST SpaceMobile

In related news, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.83, for a total transaction of $2,066,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 393,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,157,182.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, President Scott Wisniewski sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,476,699.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Shanti B. Gupta sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.83, for a total value of $2,066,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 393,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,157,182.56. 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. Company insiders own 56.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake 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 worth $21,606,000 after acquiring an additional 5,046,667 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 2,217,531 shares during the last quarter. Masters Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the first quarter valued at $2,900,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter valued at $9,270,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile in the 2nd quarter worth $4,757,000. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ASTS shares. B. Riley boosted their price objective on AST SpaceMobile from $26.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $13.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Scotiabank lifted their target price 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $22.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th.

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.