Iridium Communications Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Key Points

• Iridium Communications saw unusually heavy options activity, with traders buying 33,121 call options on Tuesday—about 948% above its average daily call volume.
• Insider activity included CAO Timothy Kapalka selling 2,043 shares at $33.00 each in a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trade, reducing his ownership by 4.28%.
• The stock rose 1.7% to $44.06, while analysts currently rate IRDM a Hold on average with a $34.00 price target; the company also recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share.

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 33,121 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 948% compared to the average daily volume of 3,161 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 2,043 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total value of $67,419.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 45,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,508,793. This represents a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 21.7% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 6,490,108 shares of the technology company's stock worth $113,317,000 after buying an additional 1,156,580 shares during the period. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,251,133 shares of the technology company's stock worth $91,265,000 after buying an additional 61,430 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,761,749 shares of the technology company's stock worth $82,759,000 after buying an additional 725,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Iridium Communications by 265.8% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $53,074,000 after acquiring an additional 2,208,857 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on IRDM. BWS Financial reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. New Street Research began coverage on Iridium Communications in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $25.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $34.00.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ IRDM traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.06. 1,626,506 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,401,813. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $43.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.70. The company has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of 44.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.88. Iridium Communications has a twelve month low of $15.65 and a twelve month high of $53.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.74, a current ratio of 2.85 and a quick ratio of 2.21.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $219.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.39 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.76% and a net margin of 12.05%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. Research analysts predict that Iridium Communications will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is 60.61%.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

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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