32,202 Shares in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM Purchased by Engineers Gate Manager LP

Key Points

• Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased 32,202 shares of Iridium Communications in the second quarter, valued at approximately $1.77 million. Institutional investors collectively own 84.36% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.20, despite some firms raising targets and upgrading the stock.
• Iridium reported quarterly revenue of $225.24 million, ahead of estimates, but earnings per share of $0.09 missed expectations. The company also declared a $0.15 quarterly dividend, while insiders sold more than $19 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 32,202 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,766,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $737,587,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 50.9% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,270,799 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $124,553,000 after acquiring an additional 766,171 shares during the period. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 1.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 61,430 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Iridium Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $62,751,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Iridium Communications by 3.2% in 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. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IRDM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. New Street Research upgraded Iridium Communications from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, William Blair lowered shares of Iridium Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $41.20.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ IRDM opened at $47.28 on Thursday. Iridium Communications Inc has a 52-week low of $15.65 and a 52-week high of $57.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.78. The business has a fifty day moving average of $47.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.22. The stock has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 53.73, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.87.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $225.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.32 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 10.55%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Iridium Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 209,233 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.22, for a total transaction of $10,507,681.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 58,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,928,127.32. This trade represents a 78.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 13,473 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.51, for a total value of $680,521.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 35,731 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,804,772.81. The trade was a 27.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 381,688 shares of company stock valued at $19,146,390 in the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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