Virtu Financial LLC Sells 19,070 Shares of Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Virtu Financial LLC lessened its stake in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 26.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,549 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 19,070 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 994,205 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,279,000 after buying an additional 106,856 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 4th quarter worth $193,000. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 48,695 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 15,752 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Iridium Communications by 4.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, VARCOV Co. purchased a new position in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter worth $947,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on IRDM shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. New Street Research assumed coverage on Iridium Communications in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. BWS Financial reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, April 27th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Iridium Communications from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.00.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of Iridium Communications stock opened at $44.57 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.74, a current ratio of 2.85 and a quick ratio of 2.21. Iridium Communications Inc has a one year low of $15.65 and a one year high of $53.83. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.88.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.07). Iridium Communications had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 22.76%. The company had revenue of $219.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.39 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc will post 1.05 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Iridium Communications news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 2,043 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total transaction of $67,419.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 45,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,793. This represents a 4.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.