Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 78.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,845 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 17,543 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $1,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 631,852 shares of the technology company's stock worth $18,336,000 after buying an additional 10,195 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 369.5% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 69,562 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,019,000 after buying an additional 54,747 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 376.3% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,858 shares of the technology company's stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 3,838 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Iridium Communications in the 4th quarter worth $17,613,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Iridium Communications in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 84.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on IRDM shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. BWS Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. William Blair raised shares of Iridium Communications from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $34.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Iridium Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $34.25.

Iridium Communications Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of IRDM stock traded up $0.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $30.04. 2,400,880 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,158,971. Iridium Communications Inc has a 12-month low of $19.91 and a 12-month high of $35.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43. The company's 50-day moving average price is $26.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.75.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $214.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.78 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 19.41%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Iridium Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.83%.

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.