Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) EVP Sells 5,769 Shares

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) EVP Timothy Last sold 5,769 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.35, for a total value of $267,393.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 84,130 shares in the company, valued at $3,899,425.50. This trade represents a 6.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Timothy James Last also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 17th, Timothy Last sold 19,521 shares of Iridium Communications stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.34, for a total value of $982,687.14.

Iridium Communications Trading Up 0.4%

IRDM stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.28. 913,781 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,158,327. The company has a 50-day moving average of $47.88 and a 200-day moving average of $42.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.78. Iridium Communications Inc has a 1 year low of $15.65 and a 1 year high of $57.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 53.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.87.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.19). Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 10.55%.The company had revenue of $225.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $220.32 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. Iridium Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is presently 68.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IRDM. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Iridium Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $737,587,000. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $91,265,000 after purchasing an additional 61,430 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,270,799 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,553,000 after purchasing an additional 766,171 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Iridium Communications by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,159,061 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,884,000 after acquiring an additional 65,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Iridium Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $62,751,000. Institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on IRDM shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, July 10th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, William Blair cut 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 assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.20.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

Iridium Communications Inc provides global satellite-based voice and data communications services. Its network is designed to support connectivity across land, oceans, airways and polar regions, serving customers in areas where terrestrial communications infrastructure is limited or unavailable.

The company offers satellite phones, broadband and narrowband data services, push-to-talk communications, and Internet of Things connectivity. Its product portfolio includes Iridium Certus broadband services, Iridium GO! satellite Wi-Fi products, satellite phones, specialized IoT services and solutions for asset tracking, monitoring and machine-to-machine communications.