Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Receives Consensus Rating of "Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Iridium Communications Inc has a consensus rating of "Buy" from analysts, with seven research firms covering the stock.
• The company recently increased its dividend from $0.14 to $0.15 per share, representing a 2.4% annual yield.
• Shares of Iridium opened at $25.12, and the company reported a 7.9% revenue increase year-over-year, with a quarterly revenue of $216.91 million.

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $38.00 to $31.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $39.00 price objective (down previously from $47.00) on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Friday, July 25th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iridium Communications

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 69.3% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 16,130 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $487,000 after acquiring an additional 6,603 shares during the period. Cim Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 100.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,849 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $617,000 after acquiring an additional 10,463 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 4,310,324 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $130,042,000 after acquiring an additional 421,279 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,109,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 105.8% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 14,091 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $425,000 after acquiring an additional 7,243 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company's stock.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IRDM opened at $25.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.37, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.78. Iridium Communications has a 12 month low of $19.91 and a 12 month high of $35.85. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $27.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.01. 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 (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $216.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.73 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 13.20%.Iridium Communications's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. Analysts expect that Iridium Communications will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Iridium Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Iridium Communications's dividend payout ratio is 56.57%.

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.

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