Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Trading Up 6.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 6.2% during trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $42.00 to $44.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Iridium Communications traded as high as $31.63 and last traded at $31.53. 677,103 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 1,139,223 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.69.

IRDM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Raymond James cut their target price on Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet raised shares of Iridium Communications from a "d+" rating to a "c-" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. BWS Financial reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday. Finally, William Blair cut shares of Iridium Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.75.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in Iridium Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Iridium Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 83.2% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,006 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 691.4% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,939 shares of the technology company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company's stock.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 2.52. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.38 and a beta of 0.85. The firm's 50 day moving average is $27.28 and its 200 day moving average is $34.50.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.01. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 2.76% and a net margin of 3.20%. The firm had revenue of $203.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $193.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Iridium Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 247.62%.

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.