Magnetar Financial LLC Takes Position in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 10,471 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,090,326 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $316,283,000 after buying an additional 336,989 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 4.6% in the second quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 3,480,051 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $92,639,000 after purchasing an additional 152,232 shares during the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Iridium Communications by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 2,656,227 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $109,330,000 after purchasing an additional 214,508 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,475,472 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $65,897,000 after buying an additional 385,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,089,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,664,000 after buying an additional 346,118 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on IRDM shares. BWS Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on Iridium Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IRDM opened at $29.49 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.52. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.14 and a 52 week high of $47.33. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.43 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 11.08% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The company had revenue of $201.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.24) EPS. Iridium Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 266.67%.

Iridium Communications announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 14.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Iridium Communications 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.