Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $33.90 and last traded at $33.0430, with a volume of 460771 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $32.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IRDM has been the subject of several recent research reports. BWS Financial reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of 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 raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Iridium Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.40.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

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 capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.29.

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

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 2,043 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total value of $67,419.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 45,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,793. This trade represents a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,157,227 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $176,533,000 after purchasing an additional 677,258 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 21.7% in the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 6,490,108 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $113,317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156,580 shares during the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.2% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,761,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $82,759,000 after purchasing an additional 725,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 27,907 shares during the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.