Analysts Set Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) PT at $29.67

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.6667.

IRDM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut Iridium Communications from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st.

Iridium Communications Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:IRDM opened at $19.56 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.30 and a 200-day moving average of $21.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.02. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.55. Iridium Communications has a twelve month low of $15.65 and a twelve month high of $34.45.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.44% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The business had revenue of $226.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $222.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert H. Niehaus acquired 30,000 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $17.49 per share, with a total value of $524,700.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 297,363 shares in the company, valued at $5,200,878.87. The trade was a 11.22% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 20,839 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $375,102.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 231,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,158,612. The trade was a 8.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,967 shares of company stock worth $557,406. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IRDM. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 21.7% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 6,490,108 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $113,317,000 after buying an additional 1,156,580 shares in the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,189,703 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $90,612,000 after acquiring an additional 961,440 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,343,670 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,840,000 after purchasing an additional 27,907 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its position in Iridium Communications by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 4,310,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $130,042,000 after purchasing an additional 421,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Iridium Communications by 265.8% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208,857 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

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.