NewEdge Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Key Points

• NewEdge Advisors cut its Iridium Communications stake by 72.1% in the second quarter, selling 32,609 shares and retaining 12,589 shares valued at approximately $690,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 84.36% of the company.
• Iridium reported quarterly earnings of $0.09 per share, missing analyst expectations of $0.28, while revenue of $225.24 million exceeded estimates and rose 3.8% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15, implying an annualized yield of 1.2%. Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with a $41.20 price target, below the stock’s reported $48.30 trading price.

NewEdge Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 72.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,589 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 32,609 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC's holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 1,750.0% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,332 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Iridium Communications by 69.2% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,548 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $63,000. Essential Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 122.2% in the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 1,349 shares during the period. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new position in shares of Iridium Communications during the second quarter worth about $99,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company's stock.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ IRDM opened at $48.30 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.87. Iridium Communications Inc has a 52-week low of $15.65 and a 52-week high of $57.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.06.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.19). Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 10.55%.The company had revenue of $225.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is 68.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on IRDM. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. William Blair downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $41.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 209,233 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.22, for a total transaction of $10,507,681.26. Following the sale, the director directly owned 58,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,928,127.32. This trade represents a 78.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 13,473 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.51, for a total transaction of $680,521.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 35,731 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,804,772.81. The trade was a 27.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 381,688 shares of company stock valued at $19,146,390 in the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc provides global satellite-based voice and data communications services. Its network is designed to support connectivity across land, oceans, airways and polar regions, serving customers in areas where terrestrial communications infrastructure is limited or unavailable.

The company offers satellite phones, broadband and narrowband data services, push-to-talk communications, and Internet of Things connectivity. Its product portfolio includes Iridium Certus broadband services, Iridium GO! satellite Wi-Fi products, satellite phones, specialized IoT services and solutions for asset tracking, monitoring and machine-to-machine communications.

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