Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM Shares Sold by Rhumbline Advisers

Key Points

• Rhumbline Advisers reduced its stake in Iridium Communications by 5.5% in Q1, holding approximately 299,969 shares valued at $8.2 million.
• Several institutional investors, including ARK Investment Management, significantly increased their positions in Iridium Communications during the same period.
• Iridium Communications declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.15 per share, reflecting a 3.3% yield and a payout ratio of 56.57%.

Rhumbline Advisers decreased its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 299,969 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 17,485 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.28% of Iridium Communications worth $8,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 196.3% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 56,164 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 37,206 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 590,023 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $17,122,000 after buying an additional 10,226 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $438,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,867 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 2,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,143,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BWS Financial cut Iridium Communications from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Barclays cut their price target on Iridium Communications from $38.00 to $31.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Iridium Communications from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut Iridium Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.67.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

IRDM stock traded up $0.42 on Wednesday, reaching $18.58. 743,647 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,604,453. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.40 and a 200-day moving average of $26.38. Iridium Communications Inc has a twelve month low of $17.08 and a twelve month high of $35.85. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $216.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Iridium Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Iridium Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 60.61%.

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.