Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Receives $25.40 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $25.40.

IRDM has been the topic of several analyst reports. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IRDM. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 107.5% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,430 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Iridium Communications by 184.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,506 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 977 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 392.8% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,508 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Iridium Communications during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in Iridium Communications during the third quarter worth $32,000. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 2.8%

NASDAQ:IRDM opened at $28.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.48. Iridium Communications has a twelve month low of $15.65 and a twelve month high of $33.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $23.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.80.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 24.01% and a net margin of 13.12%.The company had revenue of $212.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.14 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Iridium Communications will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is 56.60%.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc operates a global satellite communications network that delivers voice and data services across land, sea and air. The company’s unique architecture relies on a constellation of 66 low-Earth orbit satellites, enabling real-time connectivity in regions beyond the reach of terrestrial wireless networks. Iridium’s core offerings include satellite voice and messaging services, broadband data terminals, push-to-talk (PTT) interoperability and machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Iridium serves a diverse range of markets, including maritime shipping, aviation, government and defense, energy, and enterprise.