Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) has an average broker recommendation of "Moderate Buy", with one analyst rating it a sell and six recommending a buy.
• The company recently reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, falling short of analysts' estimates, but revenue rose 7.9% year-over-year.
• Iridium also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share, reflecting a 3.4% yield and a payout ratio of 60.61%.

Shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $29.6667.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Iridium Communications from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. BWS Financial cut Iridium Communications from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Iridium Communications from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered Iridium Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $39.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 11th.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

IRDM opened at $17.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82. Iridium Communications has a 1 year low of $17.08 and a 1 year high of $35.85. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $22.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.53.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $214.73 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is a positive change from Iridium Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is presently 60.61%.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 15,199 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 0.7% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 66,921 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 37.2% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,757 shares of the technology company's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 3.7% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 13,402 shares of the technology company's stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 14.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,961 shares of the technology company's stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company's stock.

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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