Short Interest in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Expands By 8.6%

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,900,000 shares, an increase of 8.6% from the March 31st total of 3,590,000 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IRDM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $55,079,000. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 57.5% during the third quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 2,059,088 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,668,000 after acquiring an additional 751,595 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 2,918.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 603,900 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $24,857,000 after acquiring an additional 583,896 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,743,482 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $71,762,000 after purchasing an additional 539,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 1,743,482 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $71,762,000 after purchasing an additional 539,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ IRDM traded down $1.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.79. 1,812,363 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,180,259. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.33 and a 200 day moving average of $34.21. Iridium Communications has a 1 year low of $24.14 and a 1 year high of $65.69. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.19 and a beta of 0.85.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $203.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.84 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 3.20% and a return on equity of 2.76%. The company’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.08 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Iridium Communications will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 247.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on IRDM shares. BWS Financial reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Iridium Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. William Blair cut Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. TheStreet upgraded Iridium Communications from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.75.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and international governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services.