Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Receives $38.67 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.6667.

IRDM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. New Street Research upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. William Blair downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, July 10th.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:IRDM opened at $47.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. Iridium Communications has a 1-year low of $15.65 and a 1-year high of $57.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.41.

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

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Iridium Communications

In other news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 209,233 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.22, for a total transaction of $10,507,681.26. Following the transaction, the director owned 58,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,928,127.32. The trade was a 78.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 85,454 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.28, for a total value of $4,296,627.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,017 shares in the company, valued at $14,179,814.76. The trade was a 23.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 375,919 shares of company stock valued at $18,878,997 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the second quarter worth approximately $63,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 1,750.0% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,332 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 107.5% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,430 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 741 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Iridium Communications by 392.8% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,508 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

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.