Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Acquires 119,890 Shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 182.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 185,658 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 119,890 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned about 0.17% of Iridium Communications worth $5,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 37.6% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,893,145 shares of the technology company's stock worth $106,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,093 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,240,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 94.2% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,735,842 shares of the technology company's stock worth $50,374,000 after purchasing an additional 841,951 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 44.7% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,213,512 shares of the technology company's stock worth $64,125,000 after purchasing an additional 683,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $17,613,000. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on IRDM shares. BWS Financial lowered their target price 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 cut Iridium Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. William Blair raised Iridium Communications from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.25.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 20.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:IRDM traded down $6.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $25.83. 8,103,392 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,341,377. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43. Iridium Communications Inc has a 12-month low of $19.91 and a 12-month high of $35.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $28.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.03.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $216.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $214.73 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 19.41%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is 52.83%.

About Iridium Communications

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.