Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Trims Holdings in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 43,739 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,006 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $1,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,269,883 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $130,018,000 after purchasing an additional 36,851 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 4.6% during 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 buying an additional 152,232 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,508,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $76,385,000 after acquiring an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,609,649 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $49,014,000 after acquiring an additional 11,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in Iridium Communications by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 942,380 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,695,000 after acquiring an additional 198,360 shares in the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BWS Financial restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 0.5 %

IRDM opened at $29.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10 and a beta of 0.65. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.14 and a 12 month high of $41.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.22.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $212.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.68 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 14.34% and a net margin of 14.09%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.57%.

Iridium Communications declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 19th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 14.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Iridium Communications

In related news, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 4,420 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $130,301.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 182,797 shares in the company, valued at $5,388,855.56. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert H. Niehaus sold 38,355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.39, for a total transaction of $1,127,253.45. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 254,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,489,277.36. This represents a 13.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.