Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Shares Bought by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM – Get Rating) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,773 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 441 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $1,532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in IRDM. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications during the third quarter worth approximately $324,000. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $208,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 279.4% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,476 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 1,087 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Iridium Communications by 20.8% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 296,908 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,174,000 after acquiring an additional 51,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 32,246 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,657,000 after acquiring an additional 943 shares during the period. 83.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas C. Canfield sold 10,036 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.03, for a total value of $612,497.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 190,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,631,524.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Iridium Communications news, Director Thomas C. Canfield sold 10,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.03, for a total value of $612,497.08. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 190,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,631,524.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Scott Scheimreif sold 96,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.79, for a total transaction of $5,760,646.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 138,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,289,106.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 151,581 shares of company stock valued at $9,272,744. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on IRDM shares. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on Iridium Communications in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Iridium Communications from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.00.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Iridium Communications stock opened at $59.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.40. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.88 and a 1 year high of $68.34. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.02. The firm has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a PE ratio of 459.27 and a beta of 1.10.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 20th. The technology company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $205.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $187.98 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 1.38% and a net margin of 2.07%. Iridium Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is 400.03%.

Iridium Communications Profile

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Iridium Communications, Inc engages in the provision of global satellite communications services and products. Its products include personal communicators, messengers, and trackers, satellite phones, push-to-talk-devices, broadband, midband, and external terminals, docking stations, apps, and accessories.