Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Trading Down 4% – What’s Next?

Shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) traded down 4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $30.19 and last traded at $30.36. 532,520 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 1,066,419 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on IRDM shares. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on Iridium Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 5.2 %

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.38 and a beta of 0.64.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.24) EPS. Iridium Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 266.67%.

Iridium Communications declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, September 19th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 14.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 7,684.6% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,012 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 999 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Iridium Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Iridium Communications during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 109.7% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,491 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications in the second quarter worth about $45,000. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.