Insider Selling: Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) EVP Sells 19,521 Shares of Stock

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) EVP Timothy James Last sold 19,521 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.34, for a total transaction of $982,687.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 93,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,702,410.42. This trade represents a 17.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:IRDM traded down $0.32 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.71. 818,984 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,320,215. The stock has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.42. Iridium Communications Inc has a 52-week low of $15.65 and a 52-week high of $57.18.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $220.32 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 10.55%.Iridium Communications’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is currently 68.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on IRDM. Oppenheimer increased 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. BWS Financial reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. New Street Research raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, William Blair lowered shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

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