Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $34.25.

IRDM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. William Blair upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BWS Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $34.00 target price for the company.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IRDM. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Iridium Communications by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,162 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 37.2% during the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,757 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 45.4% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 1,528 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 3.7% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 13,402 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 14.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,961 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of Iridium Communications stock opened at $26.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.74. Iridium Communications has a 1-year low of $19.91 and a 1-year high of $35.85. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.58% and a return on equity of 15.66%. The business had revenue of $214.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Iridium Communications will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.83%.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

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.