Jupiter Topco LLC Makes New Investment in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 325,387 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,847,000. Jupiter Topco LLC owned approximately 0.31% of Iridium Communications at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in IRDM. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $737,587,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Iridium Communications by 265.8% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,074,000 after buying an additional 2,208,857 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its position in Iridium Communications by 651.1% in the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 2,309,750 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,143,000 after buying an additional 2,002,232 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 226.3% in the third quarter. Man Group plc now owns 2,012,077 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,131,000 after buying an additional 1,395,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Iridium Communications in the second quarter valued at $62,751,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IRDM. New Street Research raised Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. William Blair downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Three investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.67.

Insider Activity at Iridium Communications

In other news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 13,473 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.51, for a total transaction of $680,521.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 35,731 shares in the company, valued at $1,804,772.81. The trade was a 27.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Timothy James Last sold 19,521 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.34, for a total value of $982,687.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 93,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,702,410.42. The trade was a 17.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 375,919 shares of company stock worth $18,878,997. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:IRDM opened at $46.60 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $48.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.88. Iridium Communications Inc has a 12-month low of $15.65 and a 12-month high of $57.18. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.78 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). Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 10.55%.The company had revenue of $225.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.32 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

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