Millennium Management LLC Raises Position in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 82.2% during Q1, now holding 1,447,889 shares worth approximately $39.6 million.
• Iridium Communications recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 3.1% and an increase from the previous dividend of $0.14.
• Several other large investors also boosted their stakes in the company, with ARK Investment Management now owning 4,891,677 shares, a 95.1% increase during the same period.

Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 82.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,447,889 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 653,201 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned about 1.34% of Iridium Communications worth $39,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 129.8% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,379 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 779 shares during the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,757 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $72,000. Institutional investors own 84.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on IRDM. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Iridium Communications from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays cut their target price on Iridium Communications from $38.00 to $31.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. BWS Financial lowered Iridium Communications from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and cut their target price for the company from $25.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered Iridium Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their target price for the company from $39.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.67.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 3.3%

IRDM stock traded down $0.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $17.79. 4,412,204 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,820,404. The firm's 50 day moving average is $25.95 and its 200 day moving average is $26.61. Iridium Communications Inc has a twelve month low of $17.08 and a twelve month high of $35.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.78.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.03). Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 13.20%.The firm had revenue of $216.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.73 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Iridium Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Iridium Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.57%.

Iridium Communications Company 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.