Rhumbline Advisers Lowers Stock Position in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

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 trimmed its stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 5.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 299,969 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 17,485 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.28% of Iridium Communications worth $8,195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 95.1% during the 1st quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 4,891,677 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $133,641,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383,962 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 37.6% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,893,145 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $106,361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064,093 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 37.5% during the 1st quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 3,889,045 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $106,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,061,465 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,198,343 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $60,059,000 after acquiring an additional 462,501 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,945,852 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $53,162,000 after acquiring an additional 234,813 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iridium Communications Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of Iridium Communications stock opened at $18.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Iridium Communications Inc has a 1 year low of $17.08 and a 1 year high of $35.85. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $26.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.70.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 13.20%.The company had revenue of $216.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.73 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Iridium Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.

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