Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Trading Up 9.4% – Time to Buy?

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) traded up 9.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $28.80 and last traded at $29.3420. 433,010 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 2,190,977 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.83.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IRDM. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. BWS Financial reissued a “sell” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.40.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 4.6%

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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.62. The company has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a PE ratio of 26.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.60%.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,157,227 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $176,533,000 after purchasing an additional 677,258 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 6,490,108 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $113,317,000 after buying an additional 1,156,580 shares during the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,251,133 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $91,265,000 after buying an additional 61,430 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,761,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $82,759,000 after acquiring an additional 725,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,343,670 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $75,840,000 after acquiring an additional 27,907 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.