Insider Selling: Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Director Sells $740,263.20 in Stock

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 15,046 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.20, for a total value of $740,263.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 43,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,128,392. This trade represents a 25.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Thomas Fitzpatrick also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 17th, Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 209,233 shares of Iridium Communications stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.22, for a total value of $10,507,681.26.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Iridium Communications stock opened at $48.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. Iridium Communications Inc has a 12 month low of $15.65 and a 12 month high of $57.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $48.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.88.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.19). Iridium Communications had a net margin of 10.55% and a return on equity of 22.57%. The firm had revenue of $225.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is currently 68.18%.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IRDM. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 15,199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Iridium Communications by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,350 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $197,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Iridium Communications by 19.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,023 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,677 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 107.5% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,430 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, April 24th. BWS Financial reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.67.

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.