Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $203.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.84 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 1.95% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.08 EPS.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 0.3 %

IRDM stock opened at $24.71 on Thursday. Iridium Communications has a 52-week low of $24.14 and a 52-week high of $68.34. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 190.08 and a beta of 0.85.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 400.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iridium Communications

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IRDM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,062,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 13.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,733,034 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $190,836,000 after acquiring an additional 564,367 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 1,200.8% in the 4th quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 526,699 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,072,000 after buying an additional 486,209 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 174.7% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 688,699 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,768,000 after buying an additional 438,000 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 27.1% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,025,586 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $76,081,000 after buying an additional 431,792 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on IRDM. BWS Financial downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. William Blair downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.80.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

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.