Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Trading 4% Higher

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)’s share price traded up 4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $49.99 and last traded at $49.47. 87,187 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 798,126 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.55.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IRDM has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday. Barclays upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 23rd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, September 11th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.20.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 5.2 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The technology company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.04 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $193.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.42 million. Iridium Communications had a negative net margin of 2.53% and a negative return on equity of 1.80%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc. will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -346.64%.

Iridium Communications declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, July 27th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 6.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,739,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $634,635,000 after purchasing an additional 71,031 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,774,070 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $566,786,000 after acquiring an additional 213,935 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,722,754 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $311,381,000 after acquiring an additional 26,978 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,120,966 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $227,217,000 after acquiring an additional 110,188 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,756,866 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $111,157,000 after acquiring an additional 195,093 shares during the period. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.