Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Takes Position in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 66,549 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,162,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 82.2% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,447,889 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,556,000 after acquiring an additional 653,201 shares during the last quarter. Brookwood Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,165,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,693,000. Graphene Investments SAS bought a new stake in Iridium Communications in the second quarter worth about $3,479,000. Finally, LBP AM SA boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 22.0% during the second quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 182,071 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,493,000 after buying an additional 32,777 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of Iridium Communications stock opened at $17.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.02, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $17.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.28. Iridium Communications Inc has a 1 year low of $15.65 and a 1 year high of $34.45.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.44% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The firm had revenue of $226.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $222.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.10%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Matthew J. Desch acquired 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $17.33 per share, with a total value of $346,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,127,019 shares in the company, valued at $19,531,239.27. This trade represents a 1.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert H. Niehaus bought 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $17.49 per share, for a total transaction of $524,700.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 297,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,200,878.87. The trade was a 11.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 30,967 shares of company stock worth $557,406. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial lowered Iridium Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. BWS Financial reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.67.

Iridium Communications Company 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.