Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Makes New Investment in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 10,500 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Iridium Communications by 95.1% during the 1st quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 4,891,677 shares of the technology company's stock worth $133,641,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383,962 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 37.6% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,893,145 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $106,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,093 shares during the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 3,889,045 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $106,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,465 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 44.7% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,213,512 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $64,125,000 after purchasing an additional 683,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 2,088,053 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $60,595,000 after purchasing an additional 567,164 shares during the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:IRDM traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $24.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,576,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,983,965. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.78 and a 200-day moving average of $27.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.42, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82. Iridium Communications Inc has a 12-month low of $19.91 and a 12-month high of $35.85.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.03). Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The firm had revenue of $216.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $214.73 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Iridium Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Iridium Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on IRDM. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Iridium Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. BWS Financial dropped their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday. William Blair upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, May 5th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.33.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

Iridium Communications Inc provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and international governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services.