Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.6667.

Several research firms recently weighed in on IRDM. William Blair lowered Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Friday, July 10th. New Street Research upgraded Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Iridium Communications news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 15,046 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.20, for a total transaction of $740,263.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 43,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,128,392. This trade represents a 25.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathleen A. Morgan sold 33,192 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $1,671,217.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 124,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,287,254.85. This represents a 21.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 375,919 shares of company stock worth $18,878,997. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $737,587,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,157,227 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $176,533,000 after buying an additional 677,258 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Iridium Communications by 5,124.8% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,855,073 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,151,000 after acquiring an additional 5,743,010 shares in the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc raised its position in Iridium Communications by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,251,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $91,265,000 after acquiring an additional 61,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,761,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $82,759,000 after acquiring an additional 725,856 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Trading Up 0.9%

Iridium Communications stock opened at $47.64 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $48.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.80. Iridium Communications has a 52 week low of $15.65 and a 52 week high of $57.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.88.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $225.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.32 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 10.55% and a return on equity of 22.57%. Iridium Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Iridium Communications will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.18%.

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.