Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Hold” consensus on Iridium Communications, with one sell, four hold and three buy ratings. The average 12-month price target is $38.67, below the stock’s reported opening price of $48.98.
• Iridium reported quarterly EPS of $0.09, missing the $0.28 consensus estimate, while revenue of $225.24 million exceeded expectations and increased 3.8% year over year.
• Insiders sold nearly $18.9 million in shares over the past three months, while institutional investors own 84.36% of the stock. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, implying a 1.2% yield.

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Hold" by the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.6667.

Several analysts recently weighed in on IRDM shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, July 10th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. BWS Financial reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 27th. William Blair cut shares of Iridium Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th.

Insider Activity at Iridium Communications

In other news, insider Kathleen A. Morgan sold 33,192 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $1,671,217.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 124,871 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,287,254.85. This represents a 21.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 85,454 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.28, for a total value of $4,296,627.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 282,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,179,814.76. The trade was a 23.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 375,919 shares of company stock worth $18,878,997 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IRDM. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the second quarter valued at $737,587,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,157,227 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $176,533,000 after purchasing an additional 677,258 shares during the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,251,133 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $91,265,000 after purchasing an additional 61,430 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,761,749 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $82,759,000 after purchasing an additional 725,856 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 265.8% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company's stock worth $53,074,000 after buying an additional 2,208,857 shares during the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IRDM opened at $48.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The company has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50-day moving average is $48.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.88. Iridium Communications has a 1-year low of $15.65 and a 1-year high of $57.18.

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

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is 68.18%.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc operates a global satellite communications network that delivers voice and data services across land, sea and air. The company's unique architecture relies on a constellation of 66 low-Earth orbit satellites, enabling real-time connectivity in regions beyond the reach of terrestrial wireless networks. Iridium's core offerings include satellite voice and messaging services, broadband data terminals, push-to-talk (PTT) interoperability and machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Iridium serves a diverse range of markets, including maritime shipping, aviation, government and defense, energy, and enterprise.

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