Teacher Retirement System of Texas Cuts Stock Holdings in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 47.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,546 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 33,016 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

IRDM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Iridium Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, May 5th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $34.00 target price for the company. BWS Financial lowered their price objective on Iridium Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Iridium Communications from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $34.25.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IRDM traded up $0.92 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $32.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,883,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,183,366. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $28.38 and a 200-day moving average of $27.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.79. Iridium Communications Inc has a 12-month low of $19.91 and a 12-month high of $35.85.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $214.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.78 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 19.41%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is 52.83%.

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.