First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Position in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 40.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 264,553 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 75,621 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.23% of Iridium Communications worth $7,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 856,901 shares of the technology company's stock worth $26,093,000 after acquiring an additional 137,924 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 18.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 143,049 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,296,000 after acquiring an additional 21,857 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,473 shares of the technology company's stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 248,602 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,264,000 after purchasing an additional 57,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 11,731 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Iridium Communications Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:IRDM traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $25.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 121,763 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,129,556. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.73. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.91 and a 1 year high of $35.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.74.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $214.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.78 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 15.66% and a net margin of 13.58%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. Research analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is 52.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IRDM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BWS Financial dropped their price objective on Iridium Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. William Blair upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Iridium Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $34.25.

About Iridium Communications

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.