Ieq Capital LLC Takes Position in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 311,175 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,068,000. Ieq Capital LLC owned about 0.29% of Iridium Communications as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the second quarter valued at $737,587,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 265.8% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208,857 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 651.1% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 2,309,750 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,002,232 shares during the period. Man Group plc increased its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 226.3% during the 3rd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 2,012,077 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $62,751,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. New Street Research raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. William Blair lowered shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, BWS Financial reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Iridium Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.67.

Insider Transactions at Iridium Communications

In other Iridium Communications news, EVP Timothy James Last sold 19,521 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.34, for a total transaction of $982,687.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 93,413 shares in the company, valued at $4,702,410.42. This represents a 17.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 85,454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.28, for a total transaction of $4,296,627.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,179,814.76. This represents a 23.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 375,919 shares of company stock valued at $18,878,997. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

IRDM opened at $48.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $48.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.88. Iridium Communications Inc has a 12-month low of $15.65 and a 12-month high of $57.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The firm has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.66, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.88.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $225.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.32 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 10.55% and a return on equity of 22.57%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.18%.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc operates a global satellite communications network that delivers voice and data services across land, sea and air. The company’s unique architecture relies on a constellation of 66 low-Earth orbit satellites, enabling real-time connectivity in regions beyond the reach of terrestrial wireless networks. Iridium’s core offerings include satellite voice and messaging services, broadband data terminals, push-to-talk (PTT) interoperability and machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Iridium serves a diverse range of markets, including maritime shipping, aviation, government and defense, energy, and enterprise.