Legal & General Group Plc Grows Stake in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 26.9% in the fourth quarter, buying 87,164 additional shares and bringing its holding to 410,893 shares worth about $7.14 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 84.36% of Iridium’s stock. Several other firms, including Vanguard, Citigroup, and JPMorgan, also raised their positions.
• Iridium reported quarterly EPS of $0.20, missing estimates, while revenue came in slightly above forecasts at $219.06 million. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, implying a 1.3% annual yield.

Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 26.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 410,893 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 87,164 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.39% of Iridium Communications worth $7,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc raised its position in Iridium Communications by 22.7% in the third quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,189,703 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $90,612,000 after purchasing an additional 961,440 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Iridium Communications by 323.8% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 310,797 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,427,000 after purchasing an additional 237,456 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Iridium Communications by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,157,227 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $176,533,000 after purchasing an additional 677,258 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Iridium Communications by 8.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 612,610 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $10,696,000 after purchasing an additional 50,239 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Iridium Communications by 130.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 396,642 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,044,000 after purchasing an additional 224,322 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 research reports. BWS Financial reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Iridium Communications from $25.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. New Street Research initiated coverage on Iridium Communications in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $34.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 3,790 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $117,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,480,684. This trade represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 9.0%

Shares of NASDAQ IRDM opened at $47.36 on Friday. Iridium Communications Inc has a 1 year low of $15.65 and a 1 year high of $53.83. The firm has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.84, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.74, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.85. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $40.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.36.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.07). Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.76% and a net margin of 12.05%.The business had revenue of $219.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $218.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Iridium Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.61%.

Iridium Communications 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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