Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its position in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 299,698 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 27,093 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $7,978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Iridium Communications by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 2,656,227 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $109,330,000 after buying an additional 214,508 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Iridium Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $913,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 427.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 72,626 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,900,000 after acquiring an additional 58,860 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 10.4% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 231,976 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,068,000 after purchasing an additional 21,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 19.9% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,089,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,664,000 after purchasing 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 weighed in on IRDM shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BWS Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Iridium Communications stock opened at $29.22 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.51. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.14 and a 12 month high of $48.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.14 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $201.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.01 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 11.08% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The business’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.24) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

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

Iridium Communications declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 19th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 14.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership 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.