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

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 102,118 call options on the company. This is an increase of 24% compared to the typical daily volume of 82,099 call options.

Insider Activity at AST SpaceMobile

In other AST SpaceMobile 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 393,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,157,182.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Huiwen Yao sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.26, for a total transaction of $1,091,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 55,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,300. The trade was 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 valued at $3,220,524 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 41.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 12.4% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 76,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,995,000 after buying an additional 8,441 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 230.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 39,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 27,644 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in AST SpaceMobile by 60.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 82,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,155,000 after purchasing an additional 31,191 shares in the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,354,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the 3rd quarter valued at $768,000. Institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 15.0 %

AST SpaceMobile stock opened at $27.89 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.08. The company has a current ratio of 6.38, a quick ratio of 6.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. AST SpaceMobile has a 1-year low of $1.97 and a 1-year high of $39.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.31 and a beta of 1.64.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share 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. On average, analysts predict that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.88 earnings per share for the current year.

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.