The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires New Shares in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 24,688 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,354,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of IRDM. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $63,000. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 1,750.0% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,332 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Iridium Communications by 107.5% during the fourth 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 during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 392.8% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,508 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

NASDAQ IRDM opened at $47.21 on Friday. Iridium Communications Inc has a 12 month low of $15.65 and a 12 month high of $57.18. The stock has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.65, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50 day moving average is $48.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70.

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

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Iridium Communications news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 13,473 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.51, for a total value of $680,521.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 35,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,804,772.81. This represents a 27.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 85,454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.28, for a total value of $4,296,627.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 282,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,179,814.76. This represents a 23.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 375,919 shares of company stock worth $18,878,997 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. William Blair downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, July 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, New Street Research raised Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.67.

Iridium Communications Profile

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.