Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Trading Up 10.7% – Here’s Why

Shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) shot up 10.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $31.54 and last traded at $31.5830. 682,387 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 2,193,515 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. BWS Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.40.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 13.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.80, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 1.82. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $23.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 30.44, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.48.

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

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.60%.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

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

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.