Short Interest in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) Rises By 64.9%

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 38,670,000 shares, a growth of 64.9% from the August 31st total of 23,450,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 16,170,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 28.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AST SpaceMobile news, Director Adriana Cisneros bought 4,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.32 per share, for a total transaction of $129,862.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 774,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,391,999.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 56.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ASTS. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile during the second quarter valued at about $278,000. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $774,000. Sender Co & Partners Inc. bought a new stake in AST SpaceMobile during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $177,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in AST SpaceMobile by 31.9% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 51,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $595,000 after acquiring an additional 12,391 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 150.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 126,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after acquiring an additional 76,088 shares during the last quarter. 60.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AST SpaceMobile Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of ASTS opened at $24.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 6.38 and a current ratio of 6.38. AST SpaceMobile has a 52-week low of $1.97 and a 52-week high of $39.08. The firm has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.89 and a beta of 1.63. The business’s fifty day moving average is $25.00 and its 200-day moving average is $12.57.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, topping 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. Equities analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile will post -0.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASTS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on AST SpaceMobile from $22.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $26.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price 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.

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.