Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group cut its stake in Iridium by 73.1% in Q4, selling 3,173,418 shares and leaving it with 1,170,252 shares (about 1.12% of the company, ~$20.34M).
• Several large institutions ramped up positions — including Millennium Management, Man Group, ARK, Silver Heights and Bank of America — and institutional/hedge ownership now stands at 84.36%.
• Analyst views are mixed: Barclays raised its target to $36 and rated IRDM "overweight," but the consensus is a "Hold" with an average price target of $27.60; the stock trades near its 52‑week high and pays a $0.15 quarterly dividend (~1.4% yield).

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its position in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 73.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,170,252 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 3,173,418 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 1.12% of Iridium Communications worth $20,339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 265.8% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company's stock worth $53,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208,857 shares in the last quarter. Man Group plc lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 226.3% in the 3rd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 2,012,077 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395,485 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 6,490,108 shares of the technology company's stock worth $113,317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156,580 shares during the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,189,703 shares of the technology company's stock worth $90,612,000 after purchasing an additional 961,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 124.8% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,581,142 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,607,000 after buying an additional 877,760 shares in the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IRDM. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $25.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, BWS Financial reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.60.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:IRDM opened at $41.85 on Friday. Iridium Communications Inc has a 52-week low of $15.65 and a 52-week high of $44.36. The stock has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.48, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.80.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $212.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.14 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 24.01% and a net margin of 13.12%.The company's quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors 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 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Iridium Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Iridium Communications news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 3,790 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $117,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,764 shares in the company, valued at $1,480,684. The trade was a 7.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company 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.

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