Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Trading Up 6.2% – Here’s What Happened

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) shares traded up 6.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $23.95 and last traded at $23.8790. 978,847 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 2,251,372 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.49.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on IRDM. BWS Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Iridium Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.40.

Iridium Communications Trading Up 5.5%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.98 and a 200-day moving average of $19.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.80. The stock has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $212.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.14 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 24.01% and a net margin of 13.12%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is currently 56.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 3.1% in the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 15,199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Iridium Communications by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 66,921 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,019,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Iridium Communications by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Iridium Communications by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,677 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 107.5% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,430 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

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.