Stock Repurchase Program Initiated by Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 19th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 14.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BWS Financial reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target 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 stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Iridium Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

IRDM traded up $1.23 on Friday, reaching $29.11. The stock had a trading volume of 875,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,058,613. Iridium Communications has a fifty-two week low of $24.14 and a fifty-two week high of $48.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.01 and a 200-day moving average of $27.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 138.10 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $201.07 million during 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is presently 266.67%.

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.