Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Short Interest Down 54.0% in June

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 4,367,799 shares, a drop of 54.0% from the June 15th total of 9,488,045 shares. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,207,739 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IRDM. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position 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 worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 392.8% during 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. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Iridium Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in Iridium Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 10,363.2% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,988 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 1,969 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on IRDM shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. William Blair cut Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. BWS Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $25.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.67.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IRDM traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $49.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 240,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,512,725. Iridium Communications has a fifty-two week low of $15.65 and a fifty-two week high of $57.18. The company has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.74, a current ratio of 2.85 and a quick ratio of 2.21. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.11.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.07). Iridium Communications had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 22.76%. The business had revenue of $219.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Iridium Communications will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is currently 60.61%.

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.