Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Buys 10,509 Shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,014 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 10,509 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 6,491.3% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,598,532 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,574,280 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 18.5% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,475,472 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $65,897,000 after purchasing an additional 385,872 shares during the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its position in 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 worth $54,664,000 after purchasing an additional 346,118 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 2.9% in the 1st 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. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 429.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 334,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,902,000 after buying an additional 271,203 shares in the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on IRDM. Barclays increased their price target on Iridium Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Three 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

Iridium Communications Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of IRDM stock opened at $30.04 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.34 and a 200-day moving average of $27.54. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.14 and a 12-month high of $47.02. The firm has a market cap of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.05 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 11.08%. The firm had revenue of $201.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.24) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors 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 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is currently 266.67%.

Iridium Communications announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 14.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.