Blair William & Co. IL Sells 57,177 Shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL decreased its stake in Iridium Communications by 21.9%, selling 57,177 shares, leaving them with approximately 203,961 shares valued at $5.57 million.
• Wall Street analysts have adjusted their predictions for Iridium Communications, with most price targets being revised down, including a reduction from $47.00 to $39.00 by Raymond James.
• Iridium Communications has recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.14 to $0.15 per share, reflecting its commitment to returning value to shareholders despite recent earnings misses.

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its position in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 21.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 203,961 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 57,177 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.19% of Iridium Communications worth $5,572,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Iridium Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $7,040,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Iridium Communications by 3.8% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 14,750 shares of the technology company's stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $287,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 527.7% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 6,202 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 5,214 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 166.9% during the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 57,742 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,578,000 after acquiring an additional 36,108 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IRDM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, May 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. BWS Financial dropped their price objective on Iridium Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Iridium Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $39.00 price objective (down previously from $47.00) on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $34.33.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

IRDM stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $23.81. 1,054,918 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,181,000. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.70. The company has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82. Iridium Communications Inc has a one year low of $19.91 and a one year high of $35.85.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $216.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $214.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This is a boost from Iridium Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is 60.61%.

Iridium Communications 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.